I Come Alive
by ThisHeartItBeatsForOnlyYou
Summary: Sequel to Its not a fashion statement its misery business.3 years have passed and Hayley,Frank,Gerard and Mikey have new problems to deal with in the form of two new students,Taylor and Alicia. Relationships are formed and friendships are put to the test
1. Let the flames begin

You totally need to cut your hair" Gerard said in his motherly tone, running his hand through Frank's fringe which had grown way past his eyes, and the dye had grown out so his hair was a black mess with random parts of red, instead of how it should be.

"Yes, Mom" Frank huffed, jerking his head away, but he smiled, "Hey, who're those two?"

Frank was gawking at two kids sat on an empty table in the very corner of the dinner hall. One was a girl who was very small and very scrawny, probably about Mikey's age; she looked like she was wearing Mikey's clothes too.  
>She was dressed in a boy's t-shirt and skinny fit jeans with rips down the thighs, her black hair was pinned back and she had thick framed glasses resting on the tip of her nose. Her head was down and she was engrossed in a comic. She was a cool kid.<br>The guy beside her was probably the same age as Frank, Hayley and Gee. He was wearing skinny jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was too straight, unnatural. He also had glasses on but instead of reading he was listening to music and scrolling through his I-pod, staring at it intently.

They were both obviously avoiding any sort of eye-contact, and were most probably terrified. Frank felt bad for them, starting a new school sucked, and Gerard must have read his mind, because he hummed thoughtfully.

"We should go talk to them."

Frank was about to agree and get up but Mikey suddenly made an inhuman noise that made everyone jump and stare at him.

"Don't- don't do that" he squeaked "She's called Alicia Simmons, she's from California but had to move here 'cause her dad got a new job, she likes comics but not Hellboy and likes old music, like the Kinks and stuff"

The three older kids stared at Mikey, who began to blush.

"Did you…talk to her Mikey?" Gerard asked.

Mikey never spoke to anyone apart from Pete, Gabe and sometimes Patrick if Mikey was feeling sociable.

"No" Mikey said, rolling his eyes "Pete told me, she's in most of his classes."

Gerard chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at Frank who sighed, Mikey was just as much as a hermit as his brother was.

"I think you should go talk to them Mikes" Hayley suddenly piped up, grinning.

Mikey's eyes got wide and he shook his head

"I-you- you wouldn't" he glared at them and crossed his arms, but Hayley just took that as an invitation to tease him even more.

"Oh yes" she said cheerfully, jumping up and running to Mikey's side of the table.  
>Mikey just clutched onto his seat and stared and Frank and Gerard with a look of pure terror. Frank burst into hysterics as Hayley tried to wrench Mikey off his chair, but he was rescued by the sounding of the bell to announce that lunch was over and classes were beginning. Mikey did a dramatic fake prayer, staring at the sky and mouthing 'thank you' before darting off to class, purposefully avoiding Hayley's grasp and the two new kids who were also rushing off to class.<p>

"School ruins all the fun" Hayley huffed and Gerard and Frank giggled.

"Hayley and I could come round yours tonight and see that new guitar you're currently worshipping?" Gerard asked Frank, who nodded excitedly.

"Bring Mikey too, I will teach him how to play the guitar, even if it kills me" Gerard shook his head and Hayley grinned and patted Frank's back.

"Good luck with that sweetie, I'll see you after class" Frank and Gerard waved Hayley goodbye as she set off to the maths corridor while Gerard walked Frank to his lesson and listened to him gush about his new 'baby' for the millionth time.  
>Frank yelled a goodbye to Gerard and walked into his science class to find his seat taken, by Josh, who usually sat at the back. Frank was confused until her realised the new kid had chosen the seat beside Josh, and Josh had moved away. Jeez, Frank thought, way to put a guy down.<p>

"It's not like being the new is infectious Josh" Frank spat as he walked down the classroom to sit beside the new guy.

"Hey," Frank said cheerfully after Mr Briggs had stopped talking and ordered them to get in pairs "I'm Frank and I guess I'm your pair for today, sorry about that"

The guy smiled, but he still look terrified "I'm Taylor" he said quietly, then glanced around the room nervously until Frank gave up trying to make eye contact and went to find the equipment they needed.

Frank and Taylor didn't actually get much work done, Frank found out Taylor had awesome taste in music and they spent the duration of the lesson discussing bands and music and eventually comics.  
>Frank was proud of himself for knowing Taylor would be cool, he bet Gerard and Hayley would like him too.<p>

"Hey, dude, why don't you drop by my place later, me and my friends are meeting out to hang out for a while, you can join in if you want" Taylor looked surprised, then really happy.

"Sure dude, yeah…yeah! That'd be awesome, thanks" Frank grinned and shrugged "No problem, let me write down my address and I'll see you there."

"Isn't she beautiful?" Frank asked smiling fondly.

"I can't disagree with you, she's gorgeous" Gerard replied reaching out to run his hand over the guitars neck but was stopped before his fingers had even brushed the strings.

"Not a chance, Gee. She's delicate." Frank grinned, placing Gerard's hand down by his side, keeping their hands locked together longer than was necessary.

Hayley rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile as she watched the two of them. When it came to the two of them they was painstakingly obvious, yet, completely oblivious at the same time.  
>"Frank? There's someone at the door asking for you" Linda called from upstairs.<p>

The group were downstairs in what Frank had once called his "Lair". Now, it was just his basement, full of amp chords, guitar strings, plectrums and even the odd microphone. The dingy grey walls were covered from ceiling to floor in band pictures and old sci-fi movie posters.  
>They'd hung out here almost every day since they had turned 15. That had been two years ago and Hayley still wasn't sick of this little room.<p>

"Just send him down here, Mom." Frank yelled loudly

"Well that's weird, your Mom usually just sends Mikey down here." Gerard murmured.

"It's not Mikey."

"Who else could it be?" Hayley replied slightly confused.

"It's the new kid, Taylor. I invited him over." Frank said lightly strumming his fingers over the string of his guitar.  
>Gerard nodded, "Cool, he could use some friends. He looked a little terrified today in the cafeteria."<p>

"He's from California, this is New Jersey. You can't really expect anything less." Hayley smiled more to herself than anybody else. Gerard was right about one thing, the guy had looked like he was ready to run for the hills. He'd tried his best to look busy and kept his head down for most of the day. Hayley wouldn't have noticed him at all if it hadn't been for Frank pointing him and his…step sister? Out.

The basement door groaned loudly in protest and light footsteps were heard as Taylor made his way towards the group. He was standing awkwardly at the edge of the room when he pulled his hood down and began picking nervously at the sleeves on his hoodie.

"Hey Taylor, get in here. Come on, take a seat" Frank told him pointing to the couch.

"So, I hear you come from California?" Gerard asked as Taylor made his way across the room taking a seat next to Hayley.

"Nah, my families from Tennessee but you're half right. We did live in California just before we moved here."

Hayley smiled, recognising the southern edge to Taylors voice, "I used to live in Tennessee"  
>"You did?" Taylor turned to Hayley quickly, probably trying to break the tension that had slowly been filling the room.<p>

"Uhuh, Franklin. Until I was eight" She replied.

"Awesome, I'm from Nashville" Taylor answered "but my grandparents live in Franklin. It's nice there"

"Small world huh." Hayley replied.

"Yeah," Taylor paused for a second and smiled warmly "It is."

Hayley found her herself grinning back at him. She wasn't sure why. That was until Frank cleared his throat breaking the silence, but it hadn't been awkward. It had been comfortable.  
>Hayley shook her head and turned away from Taylor shooting Frank a glare.<p>

"So," He said eyeing the two of them with a smug smile on his face "You took music class  
>right?"<p>

"Yup. Best class there is." Taylor answered looking a little more relaxed.

"What do you play?" Gerard chimed in leaning forward in his seat suddenly becoming interested.

"I can play the drums, but I prefer guitar"

"Interesting, Very interesting" Frank murmured.

"It is?"

Frank stood up and held out his guitar, the old one, Hayley noticed with a smile. Frank wasn't going to let anyone touch that guitar for another few months Taylor looked at it slightly confused for second but took the guitar anyway inspecting it before glancing back at Frank.

"Play something" Frank said simply.

"Like what?" Taylor asked.

Hayley frowned and shot Frank a warning glare and he took a few steps back in a silent reply she didn't like how nervous Taylor looked with all eyes in the room now on him.

"Anything you want, just show us what you can do." Frank shrugged.

"Okay…" Taylor looked around and sighed defeated and stood up.

He positioned the guitar before letting his fingers slide lightly across the strings. He smiled when he heard the familiar sound. Taylor started to play; Hayley was pretty shocked for the first few seconds. She had expected him to be good- he was in their music class, but he was better than good. He was amazing. Gerard grinned and Frank clapped his hands together gleefully.  
>Hayley watched Taylor's expression change while he was playing. It was almost as if he was in his own world, lost in the music.<p>

He stopped suddenly, allowing the last chord to ring out before looking up to the others and smiling shyly.

"Dude, you are fucking awesome!" Frank whooped and Gerard clapped a few times, a smile of approval on his face. Frank put his hand on Taylors shoulder and give it a squeeze.

"Thanks guys" Taylor said removing the guitar strap from around him.

"Only speaking the truth man" Frank replied before taking his guitar back and settling down next to Gerard.

Taylor stood in the middle of the room looking a little dazed and uncomfortable, again.

Hayley smiled and patted the seat next to her "You can sit down without an invitation, Taylor."

He chuckled nervously and crossed the room, dropping lightly into the space next to her.

"Thanks for inviting me Frank I had an awesome night." Taylor beamed as Frank and Hayley showed him out.

"Not a problem Dude, you're welcome anytime. Come again tomorrow if you like." Frank replied waving his hand opening the front door.

"Oh, I will thanks. See you later man," He stepped out of the door and turned just as he got to the gate "You too Hayley, it was great meeting you."

"Yeah, it was really nice meeting you too,"

"See you at school" Taylor said before turning and making his way down the street.

Hayley smiled watching him leave. She felt a blush creep up to her cheeks when she realised Frank was watching her with that stupid smug smile again, she refrained from punching that smile off his smug little face.

"Yeah, it was really nice meeting you too" Frank mimicked Hayley's voice and clutched his hand to his chest over his heart.

"What?" Hayley asked, a little confused. She was really sure what he was trying to get at.

"Oh c'mon, could you be any more obvious" Frank laughed crossing his arms.

"Oh you're one to talk" Hayley smiled.

"Scuse' me"?" He arched an eyebrow "Don't turn this on me missy"

"Whatever dude" She replied before making her way down into the basement.


	2. The Moment Of Truth In Your Lies

Hayley woke up early the next morning and was surprisingly wide awake; considering she wasn't usually completely awake till lunch time on a school day. But instead of hopping out of bed and running around getting ready as quickly as she could, she laid there and thought for a while.  
>She'd never really been the kind of girl to have crushes, sure, she found certain guys attractive, but none of the guys that went to her school could really be considered "hot" in her eyes. They were mainly jackasses, junkies or whores who'd hook up with anything that had a pulse.<br>She hadn't even been on a real date before, never mind had a boyfriend.  
>Hayley sighed and rolled out of her bed, annoyed at herself for actually thinking about these things. Hayley had made a pact with herself not to date while she was in High School, who actually stayed with anyone they dated at 17? What was the point in dating at such a young age? From what she'd seen it was destined to end in a hell of a lot of tears and a pointless broken heart.<br>Hayley groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose; she was over thinking this, again. It was all she had been thinking of for the last 12 hours.  
>With another sigh she approached her closet and began to search for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.<br>Her closet wasn't really that organized so she really had to dig to find something half decent, usually Hayley didn't put that much thought into an outfit for school, but today was different. She was going to make an effort.

"Yes!" she hissed pulling out her favorite pair of jeans. She never usually wore them for school, because as Mikey had tenderly pointed out numerous times before they were a little too 'unique' to wear in everyday life. They used to be a normal pair of white skin tight jeans but in a moment of madness, Hayley had dyed one leg jet black, because normal jeans were just too boring sometimes.

Hayley ended up going back and forth between a white shirt with "boy" scrawled across the front in tip-ex and a red Ramones t-shirt. In the end she settled on the boy shirt because it looked better with her black hoodie and white converse.  
>When she checked the time it was 7:25, she had 15 minutes until Frank would be here to pick her up.<br>Hayley sat in front of the mirror and leaned on her elbow. She didn't usually wear make-up to school, she never had anyone to impress so why bother?  
>It couldn't hurt just this once right?<br>Hayley picked up her eye liner and closed one eye, she dragged the pencil lightly across her lid starting off thin and getting thicker, finally finishing it off with a small flick at the corner of her eye. Hayley pressed her lips together doing the same to opposite eye. It didn't look like she'd made too much of an effort, which was a god thing. She didn't really want to attract the wrong kind of attention.  
>She decided to just flat iron her hair, what else could she do in ten minutes? She gave herself one last glance before leaving the room and rolled her eyes. She looked the same as she always did, except her eyes stood out a little more.<br>Hayley grabbed her backpack and headed outside to meet Frank. School was waiting, she thought, and sighed.

It was Hayley's second free period of the day but this time she was alone, Frank and Gerard had music. Hayley had taken music in the hope of being in the same class as the guys, but she wasn't that lucky. She'd been put in vocals specialist class instead.  
>But today was Wednesday, and on Wednesdays the boys had Mr Nixon and Mr Nixon adored Hayley.<br>She was in the choir and he was the poor music teacher that had been lumbered with the job of running it. He loved Hayley's voice, which worked in her favor, if she got bored during her free period he'd let her sit in the back. He'd even let her join in sometimes.  
>Hayley had only been sitting in the tutor center for all of five minutes when she decided to head up to the music rooms.<p>

When she skipped into the room the class were engrossed in whatever Mr Nixon had been saying.

"…So, for your end of term assignment, class, you must write both the lyrics and melody for a whole song….Ah hi Hayley, free period again? Take a seat"

Hayley smiled at the teacher and headed for Frank and Gerard's usual corner at the back of the room but paused halfway when she realized they weren't alone.  
>The third person had his back to her, she was pretty sure she knew who it was but she stood there staring like an idiot anyway.<p>

"Hayley are you okay?" Mr Nixon called from the front of the room.

"Yeah, Sorry, Ken, Do continue" She muttered and fled to the back of the room taking a seat around the table the guys were sitting at.

"Mr Nixon, during class please Hayley." He replied, for some reason Ken had no problem with students calling him by his first name during choir practice but you during school hours he was back to being formal and "Mr Nixon" was a must.

"Sure, Mr Nixon" Hayley sneered.

"You will work in pairs, a vocalist and instrumentalist. You can choose who is who. We won't be starting right away with the song making, but I would like all of you to get used to performing with each other, so today's task will be for you to perform a cover of a song you both like. I know it won't be perfect but I need to know what you are all capable of."

Hayley looked over to see Frank and Gerard giving each other their "Let's work together" smile, it made Hayley smile too, that look was a friend's secret code whenever you had to work in pairs, a silent promise that you wouldn't be on your own.  
>"Okay, get going class we only have 2 periods to do this." Mr Nixon clapped his hands and sat down behind his desk.<p>

Frank stood up and cracked his knuckles before dropping to one knee next to Gerard. Hayley was suddenly very confused; he wasn't being serious right now, was he?  
>Gerard didn't look phased though; he arched an eyebrow at Frank and sat back in his seat.<br>"Gerard, I know that what I'm about to ask of you is a lot," Frank paused and put a hand on Gerard's knee, "But would you make me the happiest guy in the world and do me the honour of making music with me?" He finished and took Gerard's hand in his.

"Oh, Frankie, I'm honored. Of course I will!" Gerard said in a dramatic voice, playing along. He stood up pulling Frank to his feet and hugged him fiercely, they were both laughing hysterically.

"See you two later, we're outta here!" Frank smirked pulling Gerard out of the room and down the corridor.  
>"Well that was…different" A voice came from beside of Hayley.<p>

"No, that's Frank and Gerard" Hayley laughed and shook her head.

"Are they always so obvious?" they replied.

"To everybody but each other" She smiled and turned to the person standing next to her.

"Oh. Well..." he was wearing a baseball cap today; Hayley couldn't really see him at first until he peaked out from under it. He looked down at her, his brown eyes sparkling slightly and grinned.

Hayley tried to think of something to say. Just, say something you moron. Seriously, this has got to be the longest anyone has ever not talked. She looked around the room desperately trying to find the words to say. It was virtually empty apart from Nixon and one pair arguing about which song to cover.

"Taylor, there isn't anyone left for you to work with…" Hayley frowned.

"Well that sucks."

"Hmm…" Hayley's eyebrows knitted together in the middle of her forehead, "Come with me"  
>She said and made her way to the front of the class towards the teacher's desk. He was looking through some papers.<p>

"Ken…" Hayley said sweetly

"Mr Nixon." He corrected her, looking up from his work.

"Sure, whatever." She stopped in front of his desk "It Seems since Taylor has joined your class, you have an odd number of students" She signaled to the boy standing behind her.

"Oh, it does look that way, I suppose we'll have to-" He stood up getting ready to tell the now working pair at the back of the room to come here, presumably.

"No, wait. Mr Nixon," Hayley felt weird using the teacher's proper name. "I have an idea."

The teachers gaze flickered from the students at the back of the room to the young girl before him. "And what would that be, Miss Williams?"

"Well, as you know. I don't take a class whenever Taylor here, has this one. So why don't I work with him. I mean, it won't affect his grade or anything. And it'll be easier than putting him in a group" She finished and flashed the teacher her brightest smile.

"I don't know Hayley; it's a lot of work. You already have enough on your plat-" He began to protest.

"No, it's fine. Honestly, I'm willing to do it. I know I'm giving myself extra work. But I love music, it's what I love to do, it doesn't really feel like work to me." Hayley shrugged, "C'mon Ken, please." She begged clapping her hands together "Please, let me help him."

He sighed and looked behind her to Taylor "And this is fine with you, Mr York?"

Taylor grinned and nodded a few times "Yup, exactly what I want."

"Oh, fine. Go ahead" Mr Nixon replied and flicked his hand out looking back down at the papers in front of him.

"Yes!" Hayley and Taylor both hissed and grinned at one another.

"Come on, I'll show you to one the practice rooms." Hayley beamed.

"Practice rooms?" Taylor asked following her.  
>"Oh yeah, this whole school like, specializes in music, pretty much all the money goes into the music department, that's why everything else is so shitty" Hayley replied and Taylor laughed.<br>"That's cool though, music's my thing" Taylor said, and Hayley smiled.  
>"Music's my 'thing' too" she mocked, leading Taylor into one of the rooms and opening a door to a small grey room with a desk and two chairs in it. There was a piano and acoustic guitar in the corner.<p>

"This is pretty cool; my old school didn't have rooms like this." He walked in before Hayley, his hands were hidden in his sleeves and his arms were behind his back.

Hayley smiled and leaned on the door frame as he made his way over to the piano. She didn't like that she found herself zoning out around him a lot, but she couldn't help herself. Everything he did was interesting to her, almost captivating. He ran his fingers lightly across the keys of the piano, the corners of his lips tilted up into a smile when he accidentally pressed one of the keys a little too hard and the sound filled the small room. He wasn't like any guy she'd ever met before. Especially not like any of the guys that went here. He appreciated the simplest of things. He seemed to love music just as much as she did, he understood.  
>And that was completely new to Hayley, and the way she felt around him scared her a little.<br>If this is what a crush felt like, she was terrified of falling in love.  
>He picked up the guitar in the corner and took a seat.<p>

"Well that sucks, how did you get anything done?" She asked and sat down on the table putting her feet on the chair next to him.

"We didn't." He chuckled and Hayley smiled at the sound of it. It sounded more like a giggle to her. He had a pretty girly laugh for a 17 year old boy.

"Dang it, well, any ideas on which song we're going to cover?"

"Well I was thinking I should hear you sing fir-" He had taken his cap of while he was talking and Hayley's eyes widened.

"Taylor, what the hell happened to your hair?" Hayley arched an eyebrow at the boy across from her. Yesterday, his hair had been perfectly straight, but she had been right; no one has hair that perfect. Not even Taylor. It wasn't as long now. His hair was pretty short but it was also curly, seriously curly. Sticking up in almost every direction.

"My flat iron died," He genuinely sounded upset "She served me well, rest in peace little buddy" he muttered solemnly.

Hayley laughed and Taylor smiled up her, "What?"

"You actually sound depressed about it"

"I am. Could you cope with this?" He pointed to his hair.

"Dude there's nothing wrong with your hair" Hayley said sincerely, she was telling the truth. She thought he suited it better that way. He looked pretty adorable actually.

"Liar" He accused feigning hurt.

"No, I'm serious. You look great." The moment the words left her mouth she regretted them. She held her breath for a second, stunned into silence for the second time in the last twenty minutes. Damn this guy. She'd never been rendered speechless before she'd met him, not once.

"Ah, you're just saying that, but thanks anyway" he said after probably 3 seconds after she'd spoken the words. It had felt like forever

"You're welcome." She said quietly. Awkward. Hayley jumped up off the table and begun to walk around the room, "Okay, we need to decide on a song- a really good one."

"Well, you're gonna let me need to hear you sing first." Taylor said and turned the chair next to him around signalling for her to sit down.

"Ah yeah, that would probably help..." She laughed nervously. Well, hopefully this wouldn't go too badly. Hayley could sing, she knew that much, she'd been told so by everyone that had heard her and Ken had even given her quite a few solos in the choir. But now she was seriously nervous, she didn't want Taylor to think she was bad, but what if he did?

"Okay, go ahead" he said coolly and smiled.

"Ok…" Hayley paused wracking her brain for something to sing. She usually would have planned this but not now, her mind was blank, "Um...let me think…Oh! Got it. Okay" Letting out a long sigh Hayley closed her eyes for a second.

She had decided on one of her favorite songs, her Mom had had this song on replay when she was young, before she'd started working all the time.

Hayley opened her eyes and started to sing the first line, she saw Taylor sit forward in his seat out of the corner of her eye. That must be a good thing right? She tried to look anywhere that wasn't in where Taylor was sat.  
>When she'd finished the second verse she heard Taylor strum the guitar a couple of times, he'd started to play along with her. Hayley grinned and kept going raising her voice and giving it her all.<br>When she had finished Taylor kept playing a little longer, Hayley watched him as he played. He really did get into it. Not in the way she or Frank did, throwing themselves around and using all their energy. He was pretty reserved if you compared him to that. He wasn't staying completely still but he wasn't really paying attention to anything else.

After he'd finished, he met Hayley's eyes and his face broke into a smile, "I think we've just found our song."

When they'd got out onto the corridor, Frank took off into a run and yanked Gerard with him, almost pulling him off his feet.

"Woah calm down, we've got two hours Frankie" Gerard laughed, trying to pull Frank back, but he kept on running.

"We need to get the best room Gee!" he insisted, cheering when he got to the end of the corridor to find his favourite room empty. It was no different to the other rooms really, it just had a plug point by the piano so he could plug his amp in, but Frank insisted this particular room had the best sound, and apparently it 'helped him think' which made no sense at all, but Gerard played along to keep him happy.

"Have you brought your new guitar?" Gerard asked a little disgruntled.  
>Whoever thought he could be jealous of an instrument. Frank loved it more than he'd loved anything. Ever. And had spent the past week crooning over it in the basement, it was a little freaky.<p>

"Of course not," Frank scoffed "Think I'd risk bringing her here? No way. I brought my old one"

Gerard laughed "Oh so the guitar is a girl now? You weirdo"

Frank scowled "You're only jealous because I love her more than you" he giggled and walked out of the room to get his guitar and Gerard laughed in disbelief.  
>Could Frank read his mind? Because if he could then Gerard was so totally screwed.<br>Frank returned hugging his old guitar to his chest and clutching a mini amp in his hand "Okay, what bands we could pull off?" he asked in his 'business' tone as he set his guitar and amp up.

"Uhm, I'm not sure, I mean I don't sing very good so that limits our-" Frank cut off Gerard by glaring at him. "Gerard, how many times have we established the fact you can sing, and can sing pretty damn well?"

Gerard blushed and looked at the floor "right then. Bands" Frank demanded, and Gerard laughed.  
>"Misfits?" Gerard suggested<br>"Too punky" Frank replied  
>"The Smiths?"<br>"Too miserable"  
>"Maiden?"<br>"I said you can sing, not yell"  
>"Jesus Frank, you're far too picky dammit" Gerard sighed in exasperation and sat on the floor.<p>

Frank must've had a brain wave because he suddenly yelled "Got it!" and launched himself at Gerard.

"What are we doing then boss?" Gerard laughed, pushing Frank off him

"You," Frank said, prodding Gerard in the chest "Are Mark Hoppus. And I" Frank jumped up and pointed to himself proudly before grabbing his guitar "Am Tom Delonge."

Gerard was about to launch into a ten minute speech once again about how he really couldn't sing and should stop ruining songs by attempting to sing them. But Frank must have sensed it because he turned his amp up high and began playing the beginning of 'Dammit' before Gerard could even open his mouth.

"I know you know the words," Frank yelled over the noise of his guitar "Now sing or you die!" Gerard giggled and sighed, then waited for his cue.  
>The boys rehearsed their song over and over again until Mr Nixon came in and told them to go back to the room. Frank was totally confident, and was certain they'd totally kill their performance, but Gerard's legs felt weak and he thought he was going to throw up<p>

"I don't think I can do this Frankie" he said quietly as they walked down the corridor. Frank stopped and turned to look at Gerard with a frown "Gee, it'll be fine, I swear, just pretend it's just you and me and Hayley rocking out in my basement like we used to"

Gerard looked up and smiled a little, and Frank pulled Gerard into a hug "It'll be awesome Gee, now c'mon"

Frank walked into the room and Gerard followed behind, still feeling like he was going to throw up, but he guessed it would be okay, because Frank had said so, and Frank was always right.  
>Most of the performances were pretty damn good, apart from the two stoners who were only in the class for extra credit, Gerard was certain they'd never played or even seen an instrument in their life. When it was Frank and Gerard's turn, Gerard's stomach dropped. Even though Gerard was have a mental breakdown Frank didn't seem fazed, he jumped off his seat and plugged his guitar in, then frowned when he realized Gerard hadn't followed him Frank raised an eyebrow and put the guitar over his head, then began to play the beginning of their song. Gerard heard Hayley cheer in appreciation, then felt her shove him forward, so he slowly stumbled over to the microphone, grabbed it, closed his eyes, and sang his heart out.<br>The performance went pretty well, Gerard began to calm down when he realized no one was booing or blocking their ears, and Frank must have been having a great time; he was flinging himself all over and still playing his guitar perfectly. At one point he barreled into Gerard, pinning himself up against him and pressing his head into Gerard's shoulder before collapsing onto the floor and continuing to play laid on his back, Gerard grinned at Hayley who was laughing her head off and then to Taylor beside her who was laughing too, but also looked a little scared. They finished the performance with no mistakes and no injuries caused by Frank, and Mr Nixon was smiling, which was good enough for Gerard.

"I knew you could do it" Frank grinned at Gerard.

"Not without you" Gerard grinned back "You were awesome Frankie!"

"You were both awesome" Hayley interrupted, quickly hugging them both before they sat down. "Now it's your turn to show us what you've got" Frank whispered as Nixon called Hayley and Taylor's names.

"I don't think I can be as hyperactive as you" Taylor joked, and Frank beamed.

"Good luck you guys" Gerard said as Hayley and Taylor shuffled up to the front.  
>Taylor grabbed a stool and an acoustic guitar and sat down, and Gerard couldn't help but be surprised. It wasn't like Hayley to choose a slower song rather than one of her precious rock songs, but he was also super excited.<br>He adored Hayley's voice and it would sound so much better with just an acoustic guitar and a slow song where she could really show her talent.  
>Hayley grabbed a stool and sat down too, and Gerard grinned when Taylor began to play, he felt Frank nudge him and he was grinning too.<p>

"Of course" Gerard whispered under his breath.

Iris had been Hayley's favorite song for as long as Gerard could remember, but even though he'd never heard her sing it, he knew she was gonna be awesome.  
>Her voice came out soft and a little croaky and Gerard could see her hands shaking a little as she clutched onto the microphone, Taylor was staring at his guitar determinedly, but in the few seconds before the chorus, Taylor glanced at Hayley and Hayley stared right back, and Gerard watched her face break into a smile and when she sang the chorus her voice filled the whole room, hitting every note perfectly and singing it better than Gerard had ever heard it sang.<br>He heard Frank gasp beside him and Taylor look at her in awe; Hayley even seemed a little shocked herself. Taylor performed the solo perfectly, even adding in his own notes and melodies; when they finished the song, Frank stood up and cheered hysterically before running over to Hayley and hugging her tight.

"No seventeen year old should be able to sing that well oh my god Hayley!" he gushed.

Hayley blushed and muttered a thanks then Frank launched himself at Taylor, who looked pretty horrified.

"And you are awesome too dude!" Frank took a step back and waggled his eyebrows.  
>"You two make sweet music together" he sneered then winked.<p>

Hayley and Taylor simultaneously blushed and stared at the floor, while Gerard laughed hysterically and pulled Frank away.  
>Mr Nixon let everyone know they had passed, but held back Hayley, Taylor, Frank and Gerard back after the end of class.<p>

"I just wanted to say" Nixon said, looking at each one of the kids in turn and smiling at them "that each one of you excelled yourselves today.

Hayley, Taylor-" he nodded at them both "You two are incredibly talented musicians and work excellently as a team, and Frank"

Frank giggled as Mr Nixon raised an eyebrow and tried to hide a smile "How you have that much energy and still manage to play excellently I will never know."

The four were about to walk out when Mr Nixon called Gerard's name, "And Gerard? If you hide the fact you can sing that well next time I see you, I'll kick your ass."

Everyone burst into fits of laughter as Gerard blushed crimson and beamed at his teacher  
>"I won't Sir. Thanks Sir" he said sheepishly.<p>

Frank yelled "Told you!" numerous times in his ear and Hayley led them out the door.


	3. I Caught Fire

"Tell me again. Why the hell are we here? The party's at Gerard's house, we don't actually have to get dressed up." Frank said before taking a bite out of his veggie burger.

"It's not a crime to want to look nice, Frank and besides you really need a new hoodie. You haven't changed that one for the last two years. You're like a hoodie hoarder or something" Hayley raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her smoothie.

"It's not a crime to be sentimental you know Hayley" Frank mimicked the tone Hayley's had used just moments before.

Hayley huffed and stuck her tongue out at him. Damn boys.

Frank smirked and copied her, scrunching his eyes up in the process.

"Oh dear god, you two are worse than the Rugrats," Gerard sighed.

Frank grinned and pushed his chair back "Anyone want anything?"

"Frank, that's like, your third smoothie." Taylor laughed.

"He doesn't actually want a smoothie." Hayley smirked and sat back in her chair.

"He doesn't?" Taylor asked confused.

"Nope." Mikey yawned and pushed his empty plate forward.

"Then...why?" Taylor started to ask.

Then he saw Gerard glaring in the direction of the smoothie bar. There were two people behind it. Taylor recognised one of them from his few visits here, a guy about their age. He was always rushing around while the other person, an older girl, sat on her lazy ass, but he was always smiling.

"Guys I am here y'know and yes I do want a smoothie." Frank snapped and looked away from his group of smart-ass friends.

"No you don't" Gerard muttered and took another bite out of his half eaten burger, his gaze never leaving the smoothie bar.

"Gee" Frank gasped "How could you side with them?" He glared at the other three sitting around the table.

Gerard shrugged and finally tore his eyes away from the kid behind the bar.  
>"Oh c'mon, Frank. Every time we're in here you drink about 5 smoothies. It's not normal behaviour." Mikey replied when his brother refused to.<p>

"For your information Mikey Way-" Frank started.

"Dude, I'll have a strawberry one okay." Taylor interrupted.

"Awesome." Frank narrowed his eyes at Mikey and turned on his heels before skipping over to the bar.

"Someone gonna' tell me what that was about?" Taylor asked curiously.

"Frank has a thing for Brendon." Hayley grinned widely at Taylor.

"As in, Brendon the smoothie guy?"

"Uh huh." Hayley nodded and sipped her coke, waggling her eyebrows at Taylor who tried hard not to laugh.

"He does not like Brendon" Gerard mumbled and began to pick at the bread on his plate.

"Then why does he always insist on us "Grabbing smoothies" every time we're in the mall" Mikey piped up.

"I dunno." Gerard sighed.

"Someone's jealous." Mikey muttered under his breath.

"Scared you got some competition Gee?" Hayley said, a smug smile spreading across her face.

"No, of course no- wait! What? Gerard replied, his voice shooting up a few octaves as he sat bolt upright in his seat.

Taylor, Mikey and Hayley looked at each other and smirked simultaneously. Both Gerard and Frank refused to acknowledge the obvious and always freaked out when anyone brought it up.

"Oh nothing-"

Hayley started, she was cut off when the sound of someone singing filled the room. This wasn't really an unusual occurrence at the Zumo bar.  
>Brendon always sang when he was working. Hell, a lot of the customers came for that reason only. He was one hell of a singer too; his voice was amazing and really quite unique.<p>

"Does he always have to show off?" Gerard frowned and put his head in his hands.

"If I had a voice like that I would t-" Taylor laughed but stopped when Gerard's head snapped up.

The phrase 'if looks could kill' passed through his mind.

"Who always has to show off?" Frank asked sitting back down next to Gerard and handing Taylor his smoothie.

"Nobody" Gerard asked sounding miserable.

"Okay…" Frank said looking at Gerard with concerned eyes.

"Oh look who it is!" A husky voice came from Gerard.

Taylor recognised the two people standing behind Frank, one of them was a guy named Josh from his science class. He was an ass; he'd gotten up and moved when Taylor had been told to sit next to him.  
>The other was a kid named Andy, Taylor didn't know much about him other than the fact he was a little strange, he looked like a panda. He'd literally painted black circles around his eyes.<p>

"What do you want Josh?" Hayley snapped.

"Wow, someone's a little bitchy today." Josh laughed and looked at his friend, who apparently realised they were supposed to laugh too.

Hayley rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I see you're still hanging out with these losers? Why don't you come chill with me a while?" Josh asked her, seemingly ignoring the rest of the table.

Frank let out a loud laugh, "Seriously dude, and are you still on that? She doesn't like you and she never will. Get over it."

"I wouldn't be so sure." He retorted and looked at Hayley once again, who was looking at the floor clearly avoiding making eye contact with him.

Taylor almost choked on his smoothie at that point.  
>So Josh liked Hayley?<br>And he thought treating her like a piece of crap and being a dick was going to convince her to date him?  
>He didn't like that.<br>At all.  
>Josh was a complete and utter douche bag and Hayley deserved a lot better than that.<br>Someone who would take care of her, not that she thought she needed that.  
>She wasn't exactly like most girls. She didn't care about what other people thought of her, she didn't feel the need to be anyone but herself. And that was on the things he liked about her. She was different to anyone he'd ever met.<br>She deserved the world and the Jack ass standing in front of him right now would never give it to her.

Taylor was getting seriously pissed off. It was obvious that this guy wouldn't take no as answer, he was trying to push Hayley into saying yes. And that was not okay.

"She'll give in sooner or later." Josh smirked.

Taylor pushed his chair backwards, it screeched in protest as the legs dragged across the linoleum.

"Back off." he said as he locked eyes with the arrogant prick standing before him.

Joshes eyebrows knitted together, and then shot up once his mind processed what was actually going on, "And what do you know about it? You've been here for five minutes"

"Well put it this way, dick head. I may have only been here for "Five minutes" but I can already tell she doesn't want you." Taylor snapped back.

Josh almost looked shocked but Taylor might have imagined it because his expression had retunred back to its arrogant default, he obviously hadn't expected Taylor to say anything. He took a step towards him and Taylor realised for the first time that Josh was smaller than him, even if only by a couple of inches.  
>Taylor heard chairs sliding backwards and noticed that Frank, Gerard and Mikey had stood up.<br>Josh had obviously noticed too because he laughed once and stepped back, realising he and Andy were outnumbered.

"Big mistake, kid." He smirked.

Taylor clenched his fist and set his jaw but didn't say word as the two boys retreated back the way they had came.

"Wow, that was tense" Frank said breaking the awkward silence that engulfed the table.

"Yeah" Hayley muttered, staring at the floor.

"Right. Let's get this shopping over with." Gerard sighed. 

* * *

><p>"You wear girl's jeans?" Taylor chuckled.<p>

"I have to; I can't find any that fit me here!" Frank whined.

They were standing in the middle of a store Taylor couldn't remember the name off trying to decide where to go. Mikey had bailed an hour ago, seemingly he had "Some business to attend to" And now Frank was whinging about which Jean section to visit first.

"C'mon Gee, Please! Come with me!" Frank whined again pulling on Gerard's sleeve.

"Oh okay! Ten minutes and I mean it, Frankie. Not an hour like last time." He sighed letting Frank pull him away.

Taylor shook his head as he watched the two of them disappear into the mound of clothing rails. Painfully oblivious, were the only words to describe the two of them.

"So, where to?" He asked, turning to face Hayley.

"You can choose." Hayley murmured looking at her feet.

He and Hayley hadn't talked since the Josh incident; this was quickly becoming extremely awkward. Taylor ran a hand through his hair. He still hadn't managed to get a flat iron and he knew he must look ridiculous right now.

"I don't know where anything is, Hayley." He said.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." She finally looked up and her face broke into a smile, "Still didn't get a flat iron huh?"  
>"Nope, not that lucky" He laughed lightly.<p>

Hayley looked thoughtful for a second, "I have an idea!"

"What is-" Before he could finish his sentence Hayley had abandoned him and ran into the endless abyss of clothing stacks.

Oh, dear.

She returned a few minutes later with what looked like a giant red sock in her hands.

"What is that?" Taylor asked as she neared him.

"It's a beanie, how can you not know that?" She beamed, holding it out to him

"It's like a hat right?" He had seen people wear them before now that he thought about it.

"Yup, put it on!" Hayley smiled.

Taylor took the hat from Hayley's outstretched hand and held it up in front of him; how the hell did people get this thing to sit on their heads? It didn't look right.

When he lowered it Hayley was staring at him with a bland expression and one of her eyebrows was arched "Please tell me, you're kidding. You don't know how to put it on do you?"

"Not a clue." He admitted sheepishly,

"Give it to me" She sighed holding out a hand

Taylor handed it to her and she frowned looking up at him, "I can't reach."

Taylor almost laughed as he looked at the face Hayley was making. She looked genuinely crushed by this realisation.  
>He sighed as if it were the hardest task on earth, stepped closer and tipped his head down a little and Hayley grinned "Why thank you"<p>

He wasn't entirely sure what she was doing but a few seconds later she let go off the hat, "There. Done"  
>Taylor started to straighten back up, apparently he sucked at judging distances because his eyes were met by Hayley's, he heard a small gasp escape her lips and he couldn't move, this had never happened to him before. He could feel Hayley's breath tickling his neck and her body was so close to his he could feel the heat radiating from her. He couldn't tear his gaze away from her face.<br>Her eyes, her lips. If he just leant down ever so slightly…

"I found my jeans!" a familiar voice yelled from behind a rack.

Taylor and Hayley jumped a foot away from each other simultaneously, and Hayley giggled nervously.

"And in less than ten minutes definitely a new record!" Gerard exclaimed as they both turned the corner smiling brightly at Frank. "You guys ready to leave?"

"Uh huh," Taylor nodded a little dazed.

"Yup" Hayley replied at the same time.

"Cool, let's buy this crap and get going" Gerard said.

"Oh cool beanie, Taylor" Frank grinned.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you like it R&amp;R!<strong>  
><strong>Next chapter will be up soon.<strong>  
><strong>And it's going to be...a little different. Heh heh.<strong>


	4. Folkin' Around

"Gerard are you sure you-

"Mom, go! You have to work, I get it. It's fine."

"Okay, Goodbye honey"

"Yeah, See you later Mom" Gerard smiled and practically pushed his Mother through the front door.

She was kicking up a fuss about having to work on his 18th birthday, he knew it wasn't his fault and that she'd stay home if she could, sadly, she had been given a night shift and wouldn't be home until 4 in the morning and with his Dad out of town on business, this night had actually gone to plan, for once.

Gerard slammed the door closed and clicked the latch shut. Oh, what a relief, he wasn't sure she was actually ever going to leave.  
>He loved his Mom but he and his friends were counting on her being gone for the night. Speaking of his friends, there was a loud wailing coming from the living room. Gerard made a face and curiously made his way into the room.<br>At first all he saw were Hayley and Taylor huddled in the corner talking about god knows what, completely lost in what the other was saying. Obvious, much? Was all that Gerard could think. Not like him, he was good at hiding how he felt, well, at least he hoped he was or he was totally screwed.  
>Gerard was thrown out of his epiphany by a muffled yell coming from the other side of the room. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing. Strangely this sort of scene really wasn't an uncommon occurrence.<p>

"Frank," He began trying to mimic his Mothers tone when she gave him into trouble "Why, are you sitting on Mikey's face?"

"Technically, Mr Way. I am sitting on a cushion that just happens to be placed over your brother's face." Frank grinned at Gerard.

"That's beside the point. Get up; you're going to suffocate him." Gerard replied and folded his arms.

"Make Me."

Gerard smirked "Oh, don't tempt me."

"You two need to stop flirting, Mikey's life is at stake here." Hayley suddenly chimed in and tackled Frank to the floor.

Mikey instantly sat up and started gasping for air.

"Frank Iero, you are going down." he said after a few seconds and launched a cushion at Frank.

"Oh god, I should be used to this by now" Taylor laughed and stood up and pulled his rucksack with him, moving away from Mikey and Frank wrestling each other ferociously.

"You're not doing that bad it's been what? Like, 4 months since you got here?" Gerard smiled watching his three friends wrestling each other to the ground.

"Something like that" Taylor said, emptying the contents of his bag carefully onto the coffee table.

"And just think, this is before any alcohol has been consumed."

"We're in for an interesting night..." Taylor smirked and stood up revealing his masterpiece.

The coffee table was full, from one side to the other, of various bottle and cans of alcohol.

"How did you fit all of that," Hayley asked incredulously. "In one bag?"

"It's not first time drink trafficking, Hayls" Taylor replied smugly.

"Oh really-" Hayley started but before she could finish her sentence Mikey leapt up from the floor, grabbed a couple of bottles and ran away, cradling the bottles to his chest.

"Mikey Way! You put that back!" Hayley yelled.

"Ah leave him, he's 16. He'll only regret it tomorrow"

"No I won't…" Mikey narrowed his eyes at Gerard.

"We'll see." Frank grinned.

* * *

><p>2 hours later and the house was total carnage, Taylor kept leaning in closer than was necessary to talk to Hayley, and she says I flirt, Gerard thought. Frank was lying on the ground pointing at the ceiling, blabbering on about flying poodles. Mikey had put on his Father's bath robe, along with a pair of his Mom's leggings over his jeans and was apparently now a world class ballerina as he was humming the tune to swan lake and dancing across the sofas.<p>

That's when it struck Gerard; they totally didn't have to stay in just THIS room. Gasp.

"No wait guys, I..." Everyone stopped suddenly and turned to him and Gerard panicked. "What? Why are you all looking at me?" He started laughing nervously.

"Dude, I think you just. Hayley he did just say something right?" Taylor looked a little confused.

"Yeah...Gerard what is it?" Hayley said.

Gerard looked around and caught sight of the stairs. OH, yeah. "LET'S PLAY HIDE AND SEEK" He yelled.

Everyone gasped and started running out of the room.

"Not it" Hayley squealed and took off for the stairs

"Not me" Frank said and followed.

"Not, I. Mikey Way." Mikey said dramatically, and sashayed out of the room.

"Looks like it's you Taylor Count 1 minute!" Gerard hollered and stumbled out of the room.

"DAMMIT!" Taylor yelled and fell back onto the sofa, trying to remember how to count.

* * *

><p>Mikey had ran around the kitchen, trying to squeeze into tiny cupboards and even the refrigerator at one point, but that cold bastard had rejected him. He stopped rushing around for a seconds and pushed his glasses up from the tip of his nose and that's when it him.<br>He was wearing Glasses and a robe.  
>He was Harry freaking Potter.<br>And where would Harry Potter hide in times of desperate need?  
>The cupboard under the fucking stairs that's where.<br>Mikey took off before anyone else foiled his plan and pulled the door open, he closed it quietly behind him and settled onto the floor pulling his knees up under his chin and giggled silently.  
>No way was he going to be found.<p>

-

Hayley ran around Mikey's room like a headless chicken, where the hell was she going to hide?  
>Shit. She head footsteps coming up the stairs. HIDE. .<br>She dived under the bed. No way was Taylor going to look for her such an obvious place, right?  
>She covered her mouth with her hand and held her breath.<br>Hayley froze. Something had just ran over hand. Ohmygod. She squealed.  
>FUCKING SPIDER.<br>Hayley rolled out from under the bed and ran, she hated spider.  
>She shook her arms out on front of her and ept running.<br>Right into Taylor.  
>Who had just stepped onto the top step.<br>And was now falling backwards down them.  
>Oh no.<p>

"Taylor! Are you okay?" Hayley ran as best as she could do to the bottom of the staircase and knelt down next to him.

He was laughing.

"Oh fuck!" He kept laughing.

"You scared me!" She shoved him and started to laugh herself.

"You ran into me!….I think.." He said standing up.

"Yeah, there was a spid- Oh who cares? Let's find the guys." Hayley said standing up next to him.

"Let's do this shit!" Taylor whooped and through his hands in the air before stumbling up the stairs.

-

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit" Gerard chanted to himself, running frantically around the room and trying to find the door.  
>"Okay," he said to the room, trying to be assertive "If you'd just…stop spinning for like two seconds I could get out of here and hide!"<p>

The room didn't oblige, it just kept spinning and blurring whenever Gerard tried to focus, so he gave up trying to reason with it and bolted for where he guessed the door was, only to smack into something and fall promptly on his ass.

"Gee, what the hell are you doing" Gerard looked up to see Frank laughing down at him.

"Frankie, you're all tall" Gerard said in a wispy voice, staring up at his friend, then they both froze when they heard footsteps approaching.

"Hide!" Frank hissed, yanking Gerard by his shirt and pulling him into the tiny cupboard at the back of the room.

Gerard managed to shut the doors but when he tried to settle into the dark cupboard he became chest to chest with a giggling Frank.

"Jesus, this closet is tiny" he whispered.

"Well maybe if you didn't stuff loads of shit in here, we'd be able to fit"  
>Frank tried to reposition himself further away, but his nose bumped with Gerard's and their knees were pressed together and there was no hope of them squeezing back out of there.<p>

"It's not my stuff it's M-" Gerard began to protest but Frank put a finger on Gerard's lips, giggling quietly.

"Shhh" he hissed loudly, making more noise than Gerard had done speaking "shhh Gee, we're gonna get caught"

Gerard could feel Frank's breath on his cheek, and suddenly realised Frank still had hold of his shirt with the hand that wasn't on his lips. Suddenly the closeness wasn't close enough. Frank slowly lowered his hands from Gerard's lips and shifted himself again, but closer this time instead of further away "Shhh" he whispered again, staring at Gerard who couldn't tear his eyes away, Frank leaned a little closer and so did Gerard, so their noses bumped once more.  
>'Oh, fuck' Gerard thought to himself, as he shut his eyes and felt Frank's lips brush his own.<br>Just at that moment the cupboard doors burst open and both Frank and Gerard toppled through, wincing at the sudden light. Gerard glared up at Hayley and Taylor then his glare softened when he realised they were holding hands

"Found you!" Hayley yelled with a laugh "Now for Mikey!" she pulled Taylor back out of the door and Gerard caught Frank's eye, Frank blushed and rubbed the back of his head

"We better…uh…go follow them" he mumbled, then bolted out of the room.

"Oh fuck" Gerard said, out loud this time, and went after Frank.

"We won!" Frank said 3 hours later for the fifth time.

"We know!" Hayley laughed taking another swig of the bottle in her hand.  
>She was laid out on the sofa her legs across Taylors, looking kind of drowsy.<br>It was 3 am and now all anyone wanted to do was sleep.

"Just thought I'd let you know!" Frank yawned and curled up on a chair.

Gerard was sitting quietly across the other side of the room, weird. Hayley thought he and Frank were usually joined at the hip.

"Guys…" Taylor said. "Where's Mikey?"

"Shit!" Gerard sat up suddenly and ran into the hall.

"Mikey? Mikey!" He yelled walking up and down the hall.

Gerard heard a loud slow creak come from behind her, he turned to see the closet door open.

Frank stepped out of the living room and peered in, Mikey was sitting inside on a dusty sheet, one leg crossed over the other with smug smirk on his face.

"Hello my minions, it is I Mr Harry Potter." Mikey slurred holding his hands up.

Frank bit his lip and waited for him to continue.

"I see it has taken you a while to find me," Mikey said trying to stand up, he grabbed the door and almost fell over.

"Mikey? Are you okay?" Gerard said from behind Frank.

"Of course I am!" He said "I'm HARRY FREAKING POTTER!"

"Oh my god, he's so drunk!" Hayley laughed.

"No I'm not…" He protested.

"Yes you are!" Hayley replied and folded her arms.

"Not-" Mikey began to say but fell flat on his ass.

"Oh my god I need coffee" Hayley groaned pushing the switch on the machine.

She had a killer headache but other than that she was fine. Coffee was her cure.

Last night had been….eventful, to say the least. Everyone had ended up sprawled across the living room furniture, Mikey was wedged in between a sofa and a wall. Frank and Gerard were on chairs at opposite ends on the room, she'd have to remember to ask Frank what was going on between those two later.  
>She'd woken up on the couch next to Taylor.<br>Oh god, she hoped she hadn't made a fool of herself last night. She was sure she remembered everything.

"Coffee? Good call." Hayley heard a familiar voice come from behind her, she turned to see Taylor leaning on the kitchen door frame and smiled, his hair was sticking up in every direction, again.

"Best cure, in my opinion. How you' feeling?" She said and hopped up onto the counter.

"Not too bad actually, How bout' you?" Taylor grinned and walked over to the machine as it beeped telling them their coffee was ready.

"Same here, surprisingly" She smiled.

Taylor poured out a few cups and handed Hayley once before leaning back on the counter next to her.

A few seconds past in silence before Hayley said something, it had been playing on her mind the night before. "Thanks for…yesterday by the way."

"What?" Taylor asked and put his coffee down on the counter.

"With…Josh." She shrugged and took a long sip.

"Oh. He's a jack ass, " Taylor frowned and turned his head to look at her "He shouldn't have talked about you like that."

"I know," Hayley murmured and tilted her head to the side a little "But, Thank you. I've never really had anyone stick up for me like that."

"I find that hard to believe," Taylor said seriously "You deserve someone who will take care of you, Hayley, and someone like Josh would never do that."

Hayley couldn't help but smile at that, she put her cup down by the side of her and shuffled closer him.  
>Thank god she'd sat on the counter, there was no way she would have been able to do this right if she was standing.<br>Taylor was looking at her curiously as she reached out and took his hand in hers.

"I think I've already found that." She couldn't look at him as she said it, she'd never really told anyone how she felt and it was a lot harder than they made it look in the movies, so she settled for running her thumb across his.  
>Taylor didn't reply, he placed his free hand lightly on her cheek. Hayley finally found the courage to meet his eyes and when she did she let out a small gasp. He was leaning towards and this time she knew there wouldn't be any interruptions. And that kind of scared her. Before she knew what she was dong she was leaning closer too Taylor too.<br>Hayley held her breath, she'd never done this before. She was about as experienced as a 10 year old, yet here she was about to kiss Taylor.  
>Taylor lent in and pressed his lips softly to hers and even when Hayley felt like it should have been awkward it wasn't. It felt right, like the past few months had been leading up to this moment.<br>Hayley slid her arms up around Taylor's neck and they tilted their heads, there noses bumping together as they kissed.

But, of course Mikey Fucking Way had to ruin the moment "I didnt see anything!" he yelped and bolted back the way he came"  
>He pressed his forehead against hers and laughed, " We have to stop getting caught."<p>

Hayley grinned and laced her fingers through his "We really do."


	5. Emergency

"How about we take a drive?" Frank grinned and waggled his eyebrows at the others who were all sprawled out in random places around the living room.

Gerard noticed how Taylor sort of orbited around Hayley and they were always touching in some sort of way. Hayley was laid out on the couch and Taylor was on the floor beside the couch, while her arm dangled down he had his hand reached up slightly; playing absentmindedly with her fingers. It made Gerard feel all warm inside; he was a sucker for love.

"I dunno Frankie, you haven't got your license yet" Gerard said with a frown,Frank had only just passed his test and was waiting for his license in the mail, but he was far too eager to get behind the wheel.

"More importantly," Hayley pointed out lazily "You haven't got a car"

"I can borrow ma's, she'll be cool with it" Gerard, Hayley and Taylor all exchanged various looks of concern, then all turned to look at Frank.

"Oh come on guys!" he whined "I'm qualified to drive! We can just go to the store or something. Get tons of food and a movie, then come back here and chill"

Frank beamed his biggest, cutest grin and Hayley looked at Taylor, then to Gerard and shrugged

"Oh, why not?" she said, and Frank squealed and jumped up, beaming "I'll get the keys."

Frank was actually a pretty good driver, they made it to the store twenty minutes away in one piece, and raided the shop of anything sugary, as well as a large stash of zombie films, and then headed off back home.

"See you guys. I'm an awesome driver!" Frank said smugly "Maybe so, but that doesn't get to mean we get to watch your movie first, I called After Death before anyone"

Taylor hollered from the back, Frank scowled at Taylor through his mirror "How can you even think that's good! Dawn of the dead is the-"

"Frank lookout!" Hayley suddenly screamed.

Gerard and Frank both turned to see a deer bound straight in front of the car.

"Oh holy shit" someone yelled, and Frank swerved quickly, stamping on the protesting brakes as the car shot right and drifted sideways across the road.  
>Gerard scrunched his eyes shut, he could feel the car spinning underneath him, and could hear the breaks screeching and the yelling and screaming.<br>_We're gonna die_ he thought, just as the car slammed head on into something solid, then everything went black.

When Gerard came back round, his whole body weighed a ton and everything was fuzzy, he could feel something trickling down the side of his head and he was pretty sure he was going to throw up.  
>The muffled noises he could hear in his head became clearer and turned into a voice- Taylor's voice<p>

"Oh thank god! Gee are you okay?" Taylor was shaking Gerard's shoulder and it made him feel even more nauseous so he forced himself to respond.  
>"Y-I think so" he mumbled, turning his head and wincing at the pain.<p>

"Are you?" Taylor had a split right in the middle of his forehead that was seeping blood and his eyes were looking suspiciously dark, they were going to develop into some pretty bad ass shiners.

"I'm fine yeah, but Hayley wont wake up and neither will Frank"

Gerard looked to Hayley, who's head was lolled against the back seat, she was breathing, but Gerard could see a lot of blood on her head and neck.  
>Frank looked even worse, his head was pressed against the steering wheel and blood was dripping down it, his torso and legs were twisted strangely.<br>Gerard went cold.

"You get Hayley to wake up and call the ambulance or something" Gerard said hurriedly, before pushing the door open and getting out of the car.

A disgusting wave of nausea overcame Gerard suddenly and he fell to his knees, shivering pathetically before throwing up the contents of his stomach.

"Hayley's awake!" Taylor yelled from the car as Gerard hauled himself upright.

"You okay Gerard?"

"Yeah I'm good man, get the ambulance here" Gerard used the car for support and walked round to Frank's side of the car.

The damage to the front of the car was bad, the right hand side was the worst the bonnet was pretty much gone, looking at the damage Gerard couldn't believe he was still walking.  
>Gerard wrenched Frank's door open and was almost scared to touch him.<br>What if he wasn't breathing?  
>What if it was really bad?<br>What if he didn't wake up?  
>Gerard shook the thoughts away and gently pulled Frank back to rest against the seat, he had a pretty deep cut on his forehead, along with a bust lip and bleeding nose, but Gerard sighed in relief when he could hear Frank's shallow little gasps for breath coming from his lips.<p>

"Frankie" he said gently, stroking Frank's face. "Frankie, c'mon, wake up for me"

Frank scrunched his eyes up, then opened them.

He looked like he was about to speak but instead he yelped in pain and began to sob.

"Oh! Frank, Frankie don't cry, tell me what hurts?" Gerard said desperately, he could feel tears spilling down his cheeks too but he wiped Frank's away and willed him to speak.  
>"I'm-I'm so sorry Gee" Frank gasped, wincing in pain and continuing to sob, Gerard saw Taylor reach over to pat Frank on the shoulder.<p>

"Hey, it's alright Frankie, we're okay. Tell me what hurts"

"Everything!" he cried "My leg most, I think it's stuck oh my god"

Frank began to panic and try to get loose, so Gerard grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Stay still" he whispered, and Frank paused and looked up at him, terrified, so Gerard squeezed harder.

"The ambulance is here!" Taylor called and Gerard smiled at Frank, trying not to look as scared as he felt.

"See, help is here. It's okay Frankie."

-

It took around half an hour to get Frank out of the squashed car, and Gerard would've stayed with him but he, Taylor and Hayley were ushered to the waiting ambulance and met with blankets, hot chocolate and alcohol wipes for their cuts.  
>Hayley looked incredibly shaken and like she was about to pass out any second, so Taylor grabbed one of her hands and Gerard grabbed the other. Gerard felt her relax a little. Taylor caught Gerard's eye and nodded to him, along with a shaky smile which Gerard returned, then he let go of Hayley's hand and stepped back outside to see Frank.<br>They suspected that Frank had broken his right leg in two places from the impact, he'd need a few x-rays, as well as splitting his head open and breaking a couple of fingers and ribs, so they strapped him down onto a big orange stretcher and placed him onto the table, while the others sat on chair around it as they made their journey to the hospital.  
>Frank had been knocked out so they could get him out of the car and he stayed out cold for the full journey, except for whimpering in his sleep every now and again.<br>Gerard had been the luckiest of the four, he had a little cut on the side of his head that stung a little and a bad case of whiplash, but the others needed stitches and various other forms of torture.  
>Hayley was badly concussed and had broken her nose; which just wouldn't stop bleeding, and had a pretty bad cut on her forehead and various little scratches on her face.<br>Taylor had cut his head open and gained two black eyes, plus he couldn't walk properly because of something to do with his spine.

"I feel like such a dork," Gerard said quietly "Here you guys are with your epic battle scars and I just have a shitty cut and a bad neck"

Taylor smiled a little, and Hayley giggled weakly, a few tears spilling down her cheek. Gerard wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, and Hayley rested her head on his shoulder.

"Frankie's going to cut himself up about this" she said quietly, and Gerard nodded with a frown.

-

They were all took to separate rooms to be treated, which annoyed Gerard a little but he allowed himself to be led away after making them promise he could see Frank straight after.  
>He was made to read letters off a board and walk a straight line while they shined lights in his eyes and ears and put a freezing cold stethoscope under his shirt to listen to his heart before cleaning up his cut again and slapping a bandage over it to let it heal.<p>

"Okay sweetie, you can go see your friends," the nurse said kindly "Your parents will be here soon"

Gerard groaned. Oh god, his parents were going to go insane.  
>Gerard found Hayley and Taylor huddled together in the waiting room covered in bandages and band aids.<p>

"Frank's still asleep" Taylor said "He has two clean breaks, one down his thigh bone and the other down his shin and has serious concussion as well as a few other shitty injuries. But they said we were all super lucky"

Gerard nodded and sat down beside them "Not when our parents get here. We are so dead"

Hayley and Taylor groaned in unison and at that moment, the doors burst open.  
>Surprisingly Mikey burst through first; he looked like he'd been crying and he didn't say a word, just rushed over to Gerard and hugged him tight, then reached over and grabbed Hayley and hugged them both together, sniffling quietly<p>

"They wouldn't tell me if you were okay" he mumbled, burying his face in Gerard's shoulder. Gerard hugged Mikey back and smiled slightly at his brother's concern.

His face dropped again when he saw Hayley, Frank, Gerard and two people he had never seen before, they must be Taylor's parents, he thought to himself, all stride though the door- stone faced and terrifying.

It was Taylor's father who spoke first "Get up. Get your stuff. We're going home"  
>Taylor dropped his head and turned to speak to Hayley, but before he had a chance to Taylor's Dad grabbed his arm and dragged him down the corridor, marching him out the exit without a second glance.<p>

Gerard looked up to his mom and dad, they both looked pale and like they'd been crying too, but they also looked furious

"How could you be so stupid Gerard?" his mom said bluntly.

Gerard sighed "Mom I'm sorry, I-"

Gerard's dad held his hand up "We were so worried, terrified even. You clearly aren't as responsible as we thought"

Gerard kept his mouth shut.

"Well, say goodbye to Hayley, you won't be seeing her for a while"

"What do you mean?" Gerard said.

"You won't be seeing Hayley, or Frank for a long time. You need to be taught a lesson"

Gerard looked to Hayley, and her face mirrored his feeling of horror.

"I've learnt it! Mom! I'm not stupid it was just a bad choice! C'mon Dad they're my best friends!" Gerard yelled, but his parents just stared at him calmly.

"They're a bad influence" his mom said, exchanging a quick look of disgust with Hayley and Frank's parents. That was strange. They were all best friends usually.

"Come on. Home"

Gerard ran a hand through his hair.  
>He wanted to scream and cry and run away as far as possible, but instead he gave Hayley a quick hug and got up, walking slowly down the corridor, he could hear Hayley's mom yelling at her as he walked away.<br>And he hoped to god that they were going to forgive him quickly.

-

Gerard went home and slept for the most part of two days, everything ached and his head still felt fuzzy, so he stayed in bed and dozed, and only left his room to use the bathroom, and eat when his mom forced him to.  
>On the third or fourth day Mikey snuck into Gerard's room and sat on the bed.<p>

"Have you spoke to Hayley or Frank yet?" he asked.

Gerard sighed "No, they took my phone and laptop off me"

Gerard missed his best friends so much, it was like losing a limb, and he had no idea how Frank was doing; since the last time he'd seen him he'd been knocked out cold and was being wheeled into a hospital room.

"Borrow my cellphone" Mikey said casually, tossing his phone over to Gerard, "Just don't let mom see, she'll be so mad at me."

Gerard stared at the phone, then at Mikey and he grinned.  
>"Thank you Mikes, you're the best brother ever."<p>

Mikey smiled back "Oh I know, but you're paying to top my credit back up and if mum sees you I'm saying you stole it"

Mikey patted Gerard's leg with a grin and left the room, and Gerard immediately dialed

Frank's number.

"Hello? Mikey?" Frank's voice was slurred and thick with sleep

"Oh shit sorry Frankie did I wake you up?"

"Gee! Oh it's good to hear your voice again man" Frank immediately brightened up and Gerard heard the rustle of covers as he hauled himself up.

"You too, how are you doing?" Gerard felt like a weight had been lifted off him; it was ridiculous to miss one person that much after a few days.

"I feel like I've been beaten repeatedly with a sledgehammer and attacked by an army of zombies over and over" Frank laughed then choked a little "I'm still drugged up to the eyeballs so I'm guessing it can only go downhill from here once I run out of pills"

Gerard sighed "that sucks Frankie, are you out of hospital?"

"Yeah, got out about an hour ago, my future looks like weeks of bed rest and pain followed by crutches and more pain"

"I'm so sorry Frankie I-"

"Don't even try and apologize to me, it was my goddamn stupid idea, I'm just so glad you're all okay, I couldn't live with myself if things turned out worse" Frank sounded devastated

"It was all of our faults, don't beat yourself up. We're all fine; it's you who's gained most of the injuries"

Frank chuckled "yeah I guess I have. Have your parents done banned you from seeing me too?"

Gerard sighed and wanted to cry "yep. No contact with you or Hayls, it's killing me already"

"It'll be okay" Frank sounded like he wanted to cry too "they'll give it up soon. We just have to stick it out till then…oh, hey my mom's coming, I better go. I'll see you…soon. Miss you Gee"

Before Gerard could reply Frank hung up, so he sighed and pulled himself together then dialled Hayley's number, excited to hear her voice.

Apparently Hayley was just as depressed as Frank and Gerard were. She had been banned from pretty much everything and spent the last two days sleeping like Gerard had, but since she had concussion her parents had to wake her up every single hour through the day and night to shine lights in her eyes and make her recite the alphabet. She'd been told she wasn't allowed to see Taylor either, he'd even came round the house to talk to her but they'd slammed the door in his face and refused to let Hayley see him.

"I'm not allowed to see my best friends, my nose is all wonky and purple and everything sucks" she moaned.

Gerard smiled at her whining tone but was totally devastated, everything did suck, and it didn't look like it was going to get much better. When he said his goodbyes to Hayley, he sent a text to Taylor, stumbled out of bed to hand Mikey his phone back, then crawled back under his duvet and shut his eyes, planning to sleep until life became a little less crappy for him and his friends.

"Gerard honey, you're going to need to get out of bed at some point" Gerard had been dozing in bed all day, and just as he had got into a proper sleep, his mother's voice woke him up.

"No I don't" he mumbled back, pulling the sheets over his head.

His mom sighed "You're going back to school next week, you're healthy enough, and no it's not up for discussion" she added.

Gerard lowered the sheets and got ready to process "Frank and Hayley won't be back for another couple of weeks. You go to school and come straight back home, no visiting your friends, got it?"

Gerard nodded and glared at his mother who sighed and left.

-

School was absolute hell, only made slightly better by Taylor being there too, his eyes were still slightly bruised and swollen, and he was walking like a ninety year old, but he was in good spirits.

"I'm just glad to be out of house" Taylor smiled "I don't think I can face my mom fussing and my dad lecturing me all day, I'm even willing to learn just to get away from them"

Gerard laughed then said "Have you seen Hayls yet?"

Taylor's face dropped, and he shook his head sadly "We're still banned from seeing each other, I miss her so bad"

Gerard frowned, he knew how that felt, he hadn't even got a chance to see if Frank was okay.

"Oh dude, you'll get to see her soon, plus, don't they say absence makes the heart grow fonder or some shit? Imagine the reunion when you finally get to see her again"

Taylor grinned and nodded enthusiastically "I can't wait" he beamed.

-

The next few weeks dragged, Gerard missed Frank and Hayley terribly, but when they were allowed back to school, Gerard had been right – it was so totally worth the wait.  
>Frank turned up first, with a set of crutches and a hefty cast on his right leg, but when he saw Gerard waiting for him, he apparently totally forgot he was a cripple, dropped his crutches and launched himself at Gerard, holding him close and laughing hysterically.<br>Gerard hugged him back tight and willed himself not to cry.

"I missed you so so much Gee" he whispered in Gerard's ear.

"I missed you too" Gerard replied.  
>Then stiffened slightly because, did Frank just kiss his cheek?<p>

"Hey, doesn't this hurt?" Gerard asked, realising how tight he was holding Frank and also the face Frank had no crutches to support him.

"Just a little" Frank repled, his breathing had got shallow, and he was clutching his ribs with one hand.

"Oh shit, get his crutches would you Taylor," Gerard said, and frowned and Frank "You idiot" he scolded.

Frank just grinned "You love it" he replied.

Frank hugged Taylor a hello then grabbed his crutches, he was smiling but there were huge dark circles under his eyes and he looked absolutely drained.

"You sure you're fit enough to come back to school?" Gerard asked, frowning when Frank paused to rest for the third time in two minutes.

"I'm fine Gee, quit worrying" Frank waved Gerard off.

"Hey!" a voice called from down the corridor "You weren't leaving without me were you?"

They all turned to see Hayley stood at the end of the corridor, with her hands on her hips, trying to look stern.

"Oh my god" Taylor gasped, then pretty much sprinted down the hall and picked Hayley up, spinning her round before hugging her tight.

Gerard and Frank grinned at each other and walked up to catch up with them. They all hugged and talked a while, but Hayley kept her eyes on the floor, which was a little strange because Taylor was gazing at her the whole time.

"What's up Hayls?" Frank asked, clearly reading Gerard's mind again.

"Oh…it's nothing" she muttered "I just, I look awful, I don't usually care but I look even more hideous than usual"

Hayley laughed sadly and Frank and Gerard scowled simultaneously, just before they could speak up to protest, Taylor put his finger under Hayley's chin and guided her head up to look at him. Her face was bruised and purple, and one eye was so swollen it was almost shut.

"You. Are. Beautiful." Taylor said slowly, looking Hayley right in the eye "Always have been, always will be"

Hayley blushed crimson and Frank whimpered beside Gerard. Gerard was pretty sure his jaw was on the floor.

"And, we match" Taylor grinned and pointed to his bruised eyes, then lent down and kissed Hayley on the forehead.

Hayley was speechless, she was blushing and squirming a little uncomfortably but she was staring back at Taylor and smiling at him.

"Better get to class then" she said quietly, going up on her tiptoes to kiss Taylor lightly on the lips then skipping off down the corridor to class.

"Dude, I love you" Frank said, grinning up at Taylor who blushed and shuffled his feet "You're awesome"

Gerard, patted Taylor on the back, and Taylor smiled back and headed off to his class.

"It feels so good to be back" Frank said happily, then his face dropped a little and he pulled out his phone, balancing precariously on one crutch.", oh shit, I need to text Brendon"

Gerard scowled and folded his arms.  
>Fucking Brendon. Frank was totally lost in his stupid little text conversation with his new best friend, grinning and giggling at the texts he received, so Gerard stormed off to lesson, hoping Frank would call him back.<p>

He didn't even realise Gerard had gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Update coming soon :D<strong>


	6. Pretty Handsome Awkward

Hayley got changed five times before Taylor was due to pick her up. For some reason nothing, not even her favorite clothes, looked right.  
>Eventually she settled on her bright red jeans with rips on the knees and her black T-shirt with neon pink ribbons criss-crossed down the sides.<br>She took an hour styling her hair to perfection and put on more make-up then she ever had done before, covering up the last of the bruises on her face the best she could.  
>Hayley had told herself a million times that this wasn't a date, it was two friends going out together, even though they had made out and held hands and he'd said she was beautiful, that so did not make it a date.<br>She looked at herself in the mirror  
>"It's a date" she sighed to herself, defeated. It was a date. Her first proper date. And she was terrified.<br>A car horn beeped and Hayley jumped out of her skin, checked herself in the mirror, took a deep breath, and stepped outside, heading to the car that was waiting.  
>It was a battered old hatchback and as Hayley climbed in the back she smiled shyly at Taylor in the passenger seat then turned to face Taylor's dad, Taylors parents had told him he wouldn't be allowed to drive for the rest of his life after the crash, she held her breath and waited for a lecture or more yelling, but instead…<p>

"Good evening Hayley" Hayley breathed a sigh of relief and beamed.

She was glad their parents had stopped fighting; she was a little scared they'd hate each other, and their children, forever. Hayley saw Taylor's shoulders drop in the passenger seat as he relaxed; she knew he was thinking the same thing too.  
>They arrived at the movies a little too early, so once they'd got their tickets they sat at one of the tables. Usually they could talk for hours and still never run out of things to say; but this time it was different. Taylor stared at the table, tracing his fingers across the surface making invisible shapes whereas Hayley stared at the ceiling, sighing occasionally just to make some noise to break the terrifying silence.<br>She felt like walking out or bursting into tears or something, anything but this terrifying new universe that apparently made her and Taylor total strangers once again. Eventually after what seemed like hours of silence, Hayley gave up and made herself pluck up the courage to speak.

"This is stupid" she sighed.

Taylor's head snapped up, and he smiled apologetically.

"I mean, since when did run out of stuff to talk about?"

Taylor laughed and shook his head "You're right, I'm a dumbass, do you wanna drink Haylz?"

Hayley grinned and relaxed a little, "Sure thing" she smiled.

-

Hayley honestly had no idea at all what the movie was about, because after they'd got over the initial awkwardness, talking to Taylor was like talking to a whole new person. They got told off by the people around them numerous times but neither of them seemed to care, they laughed and talked through the whole movie and even the credits and only left when they were asked to leave by the stewards.

"I'm sorry I made us miss the movie" Taylor laughed as he led them out.

"I'm not" Hayley replied with a smile "It was fun anyway"

Taylor beamed and edged a little closer to Hayley, she took a breath and slid her hand into Taylor's. He tensed up, then sort of bounced a little then totally giggled like a girl, Hayley couldn't help but laugh too.  
>Taylor suddenly paused and stopped laughing, and his eyes locked with Hayley's.<br>She knew that look; Taylor lent down slightly as Hayley closed her eyes and smiled, reaching up a little…

"Alicia!" Taylor yelped suddenly.

Hayley's eyes snapped open and she followed his glare to see Alicia stood facing Mikey, and their faces were real close together, like they were about to….

"Mikey Way what are you doing?" Hayley shouted before she could stop herself

Mikey pretty much launched himself across the hall away from Alicia while Alicia just stood there, wise eyes and clearly distraught.

Hayley fell over laughing while Taylor looked like he was going into shock.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Mikey squeaked, his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head.  
>"We came to see a movie" Hayley said, still laughing uncontrollably "Does your brother know that you're out?"<br>Know that you're out with a girl? She added mentally

"He's at Frank's of course" Mikey said, rolling his eyes; then he panicked again ",Don't tell him I was here!" he pleaded.

Hayley just couldn't deny that face "Don't worry Mikes, you're secret's safe with me" Mikey grinned, then frowned at Hayley, then turned to glare at Taylor.

"Are you her boyfriend?" he asked suspiciously.

Taylor raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms "Are you my sister's boyfriend?" Mikey and Taylor were on some sort of manly stand-off, and it looked like Mikey was winning with the glaring.

"You can date Hayley, but only 'cause you're cool" Mikey said, taking a step forward, it was weird how a tiny kid could look more menacing than someone almost twice his size "ut if you make her cry, dude…I'll break your goddamn legs"

This time Taylor snorted unattractively before bursting into hysterical laughter once again, he had tears running down his face when he finally managed to calm down enough to talk.

"You got it dude, feel free to date my sister. You're awesome"

Mikey grinned and Alicia hurried over and grabbed his hand, smiling proudly.

"Bye Taylor, I'll see you when you get home" Alicia turned to Hayley and smiled.

"I love your hair" she grinned, then smiled slyly and added Taylor wrote a song about you."

"Oh my god Alicia!" Taylor groaned and slapped himself in the forehead and Hayley just couldn't stop laughing.

-

"Well that was the most embarrassing and surreal night ever" Taylor laughed as they sat on the steps outside and waited for Taylor's dad to arrive.

"Fun though" Hayley smiled, and Taylor nodded.

"One of the best" he grinned back, slinging his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. Hayley put her head on Taylor's shoulder and smiled she could happily stay right here forever, just as long as Taylor would stay too.

* * *

><p>"Wow, Frank. Seriously slow down, you'll make yourself sick." Gerard laughed and raised a hand to slap a currently choking Frank on the back.<p>

"I like food okay." Frank muttered after clearing his throat.  
>"Clearly." Hayley said arching an eyebrow at him.<p>

Gerard, Frank, Hayley, Taylor were huddled around their usual table at the food court in the Mall. Franks Mom had kicked them out of house so she could clean the basement, it hadn't been tidy for around 5 years, it looked like a bomb had been let off in their, Frank was probably going to get a phone call any moment now telling him his Mom was in hospital because of heart attack.

"Shh, it's quiet time." Frank replied just as his phone beeped, Gerard had never seen Frank dive for his phone so fast. He jumped up and pressed it to his eat before seating himself at the table furthest away from his friends.

"Wonder who that is?" Taylor said sarcastically.

"Oh I wonder." Hayley sighed and laced her fingers through Taylors.

"Fucking Hilarious." Gerard muttered and sat back in his chair and focused on the floor.

Hayley looked at Gerard with a sad expression. That girl always knew too much for his liking. She could read him like an open book, which sometimes wasn't such a good thing.

"What's funny? Frank asked as he took his seat next to Gerard.

"Oh nothing," Taylor piped up quickly "Brendon again?"

"Nah, it was my Mom. She's making me clean the rest of the basement when I get home. She's not happy at all." He half laughed.

Gerard smiled, a little relived.  
>Frank and Brendon had been spending a lot of time together, not that he should have a problem with that, But he did. Frank was just his friend. That was it.<p>

"Unlucky for you, my friend." Hayley grinned.

"Oh don't worry, you'll all be helping me." Frank replied and took a swig of his coke.

"You have got to be kidding me." Hayley Murmured.

Gerard followed her eyes and caught sight of a figure sitting alone at the table Frank had just come from. His hood was pulled up and his hands were covering his face but Gerard knew who it was and apparently Hayley did too.

"Is that Brendon?" Taylor asked.

"What? Where?" Frank spun around so quickly that he almost fell out of his chair.

"Has he been crying?" Hayley sat forward in her chair obviously trying to get a better look at him.

"He does look pretty upset." Taylor murmured and then looked at Gerard who was glaring at Frank.

"Oh, fuck. I bet.." Frank trailed off standing up, he paused for a second and looked at his friends.

"Just go already." Gerard sighed and felt Hayleys steady gaze on him, he tried his best to keep his expression blank.

"What?" Frank asked.

"Go, He's upset and you know you want too." he replied and tore his eyes away from Frank.

"Gerard.." Frank said looking slightly confused.

"Frank just go Brendon needs you." Hayley spoke up after a minute of uncomfortable silence

Frank sighed and walked quickly over to where Brendon was sitting.  
>Gerard hear Hayley ad Taylor whispering to one another, but he couldn't really bring himself to listen he didn't particularly care right now.<br>He heard a chair being pushed back and someone leave, he assumed it was Taylor.

"Gerard. Look at me." Hayley said sternly and took Gerards hand.

He raised his eyes and met Hayleys, she had a serious expression on her face. "You know he's just his friend, right?"

He shrugged and sighed, he hated these conversations.

"Gerard, stop being silly, they're just friends." Hayley murmured and gave his hand a squeeze before dropping it and sitting back.

"I find that hard to believe." Gerard muttered and looked over too see Frank with his arm around Brendons shoulder.

"So you admit it?" Hayley said.

"Admit what?"

"That it bothers you."

"I admit nothing." He said

"Gerard." Hayley said again

Gerard turned to look at her again, "It's you and you know it." was all that she said.

Gerard smiled sadly at her.

He didn't look at Frank and Brendon for the rest of the night.

Because watching his best friend act that way with someone else was killing him inside and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

* * *

><p><strong>R&amp;R, Update coming soon!<strong>  
><strong>Things are about to get a lot trickier..<strong>


	7. Yesterdays Feelings

Gerard ended up hitching a lift with Taylor and Hayley, since Frank seemed far too occupied hugging Brendon to remember he was supposed to be giving Gerard a lift home. Hayley kept shooting worried glances at him the whole journey home, but knew better than to speak to him in front of Taylor and Taylor's Dad. When he got home he dumped his bags, went straight into his room and flopped onto his bed, and all the anger and pain and jealousy he'd been holding in poured out in the form of tears. He wasn't even sure why he was crying, his head was spinning and he felt a massive weight resting on his chest, and it wouldn't let up no matter how much he cried or how hard he tried to forget it.

"I hate this" he mumbled into his pillow to no one in particular "I hate this and I want it to go away" thoughts of Frank ran through his mind, then eventually, he cried himself to sleep.

When he awoke, his cell phone was buzzing and the screen flashing made him wince, so he covered his eyes and answered it, holding it to his ear.

"Hello?" he grumbled, it was barely audible because of the sleep clouding his voice, so he cleared his throat and said it again.

"Oh Gee! Finally, I've been trying to call you for hours!" Frank's voice made Gerard wince even more than the bright screen had, what the hell did he want now?

"What's up?"

"I'm so sorry I left you earlier, I feel awful. Wanna sleep over tonight? I've got some new zombie movies, and of course, the old classics"

Gerard couldn't help but smile at Frank's smug tone; he knew Gerard couldn't deny a good zombie-fest.

"I-Oh sure why not?" Gerard said, and Frank squeaked happily down the phone.

"Come round when you're ready. See you soon!" Frank said cheerily, before hanging up.

Gerard packed his bag in a hurry, said his farewells to his parents and yelled a goodbye to Mikey who had been hiding upstairs on the phone to someone for the past hour apparently, and rushed out the door.

He had been silly, thinking someone could come between Frank and him, they were best friends and nothing could change that. He was just being jealous even though he had no need to be. Tonight would be awesome, the best nights of Gerard's life had usually been at Frank's house, just sitting and pigging out on candy and popcorn while watching every blood and gore movie known to man. Gerard grinned to himself, tonight was going to be so awesome.

"Hey Gee!" Frank beamed at Gerard when he opened the door "Come on in"

Frank stepped out of the way to let Gerard through and Gerard couldn't stop grinning.

But his face crumbled when he saw who was sitting on the couch, did he always have to be here?

"Oh, Hi Gerard" Brendon said.

Gerard froze. He could walk out. He could walk out of the door right now, couldn't he? But instead he shuffled woodenly in the room, perching himself down on the couch and leaning as far away from Brendon as he could.

Frank walked in behind Gerard, and as he walked near to where Brendon was sat, Brendon reached forward and snagged him by the wrist, yanking him down beside him so that Frank was pretty much on his lap.

"Oh my god Brendon, you gave me a heart attack" Frank giggled like a twelve year old girl and Brendon was laughing too with his head buried in Frank's shoulder.

Gerard's knuckles were white from clutching onto the arms of the couch as hard as he could so he wouldn't get up and leave or punch Brendon in his stupid face. Frank stood and shuffles over to the TV to up to put the movie on and brushed his fingers across Brendon's arms as he left. He sat next to Brendon once again when the movie started, Gerard was pretty sure they we removing closer to each other every second.  
>He tried to concentrate on the movie, he really did, but Frank and Brendon were holding hands and whispering and giggling to each other. When a loud came from the television Brendon jumped dramatically and proceeded to huddle up to Frank and hide his face in his hair, giggling like an idiot.<p>

Gerard decided he couldn't take it anymore, it was too hard painful to watch. He didn't even realise what he was doing until he was stood up and half way towards the door.

"What's the matter Gee?" Brendon and Frank were staring at Gerard dazed, like they'd only just realised he existed.

"I-I don't feel well. I'm going home" Gerard muttered, then practically ran out of the door, only just remembering to grab his bag on the way out.

* * *

><p>His mom thought he was staying at Frank's, and would worry if he came home less than an hour after he left with tears streaming down his face, so he took a left and headed off to Hayley's, praying to god she'd be home.<br>Her parent's car wasn't there but when he knocked on the door Hayley answered, she was in her scruffy old teddy pajamas and her hair was tied up messily, she looked sleepy like she had been asleep.

"Oh, oh crap" Gerard sniffled when he looked at his watch, it was almost midnight "Sorry, sorry, I'll…go-"

"Gee, what did he do?" Hayley asked sympathetically, pulling Gerard through the door and into a hug.

That, apparently was the last straw for him because he burst into a fit of tears and sobs that he'd probably cringe about later.

"He-I….Can I stay here tonight?" Was all he managed, Hayley pulled Gerard inside with an arm around his shoulders and shut the door behind them.

"Of course you can." She smiled sadly and handed him a tissue as they sat down at the kitchen table.

Gerard nodded, that was it. That's all he felt he could do, it was strange. He knew he should let himself feel something- anger, frustration, sadness. But he just…couldn't. He didn't feel much of anything, he was all cried out, numb.  
>He was unsure of how much time had passed before Hayley spoke up and broke the silence.<br>He'd been staring into space trying his best not to think, because if he thought, he felt and if he felt he knew he'd break down again, he knew his heart would continue to break into a thousand tiny pieces and the only person who could put it back together again had found someone else, someone who wasn't him.

"Gerard, what happened?" Hayley asked quietly.

Gerard didn't speak. Honestly, he wasn't sure himself, how had things gotten so out of control? How had he let this happen? He had always thought he and Frank would stay friends forever, because that's all they were. Right? Friends. Yet, here he was dying inside at the thought of him with someone else. He hadn't even been able to sit in the same room as them for longer than an hour.  
>He'd felt himself breaking apart, falling to pieces as Frank had edged closer to Brendon, further away from him.<br>There was no going back now, he needed to be honest with himself, if he kept pushing away every thought that had ever crossed his mind about how he truly felt, he'd never be able to move forward. He'd be stuck in this place forever, broken and defeated. Alone.  
>Frank hadn't been "Just his friend" for a long time, something in his world had changed a long time ago and even then he knew there was no going back.<br>People always say there's one person out there for you. That one person that can put a smile on your face regardless of how bad things are. That can make light out of your darkest day. That one person that can become your entire world without them even knowing it.  
>And for Gerard, Frank was just that.<br>But none of that mattered, not anymore.  
>Because Frank didn't feel the same.<p>

Gerard sighed and closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears that were pooling behind them from spilling out.

"Gerard, you can tell me anything you know that." Hayley murmured reassuringly.

"I was at Franks and Brendon was already there."

"Oh?" Hayley asked questioningly.

"And you should have seen them together. I left, I couldn't take it anymore," He started. "And to think I actually thought that after that my birthday. He might have felt the same way I did. I've been so stupid…"

"Wait, rewind. What happened that night?" Hayley crossed her legs and waited for him to start speaking again.

"What does it matter? I probably made it out to be something that it wasn't." Gerard could barely speak anymore, he couldn't catch his breath.

"Or not. You don't know that." Hayley said like it was simplest thing in the world.

"But I do! " Gerard ran a hand through his hair and tried to compose himself. He knew he was right, if Frank actually cared about him as much as Hayley thought he did, as much as Gerard hoped he would, he wouldn't be with Brendon right now. Gerard pursed his lips and had to turn away from Harleys scrutinizing gaze.

"It doesn't matter." He muttered.

"I've known you for a long time Gerard, I can tell it matters too you."

"I don't want to think about it, I can't." Gerard said quietly and blinked to clear his eyes.

"I understand, but it might help to talk about it." Hayley frowned and put a hand on Gerard's shoulder.

Gerard nodded, she was right. He'd always known somewhere in the back of his mind that he'd have to talk about this someday, just not like this, not because he was watching Frank fall in love with someone else, not because he was in pain. But here he was, alone and hurting and he could feel the truth he'd never admitted, not even to himself, almost spilling out.  
>And of course here Hayley was, here to listen to him at god knows what time in the middle of the night.<p>

"It was my birthday." He began and watched Hayley's eyes widen in understanding.

"When we were playing Hide and Seek…We were cramped into that tiny closet in my room and thought…he was going too…but you and Tay came in and we fell out.

"Ah, so that's why you were both acting weird that night."

"I made it all up in my head didn't I?" He whispered and bit into his lip, he would not start crying again.

"What?" Hayley asked sounding concerned.

"Everything."

"Tell me," She replied and took his hands in hers.

"I don't know how I did it, I thought…but it never happened did it? None of it, even the closet, I misread every fucking thing, everything he said to me. I made it up" Gerard gushed and that was it. He couldn't keep it together any longer he knew he was crying because Hayley pulled him into a tight hug.

"You didn't make it up, okay. I promise you." Hayley murmured and sat back in her chair looking at Gerard with that all seeing all knowing look of hers. Gerard was pretty sure she had no idea about what exactly happened in the closet and she had no idea what he was saying, but she still got it, somehow.

Gerard shook his head in reply, he didn't have anything left to say, he'd let it all out.  
>Hayley looked thoughtful for second before answering, "You really love him, Don't you?"<p>

Gerard looked at the floor; he didn't really need to think about his answer.  
>Of course he loved him, he'd loved for Frank as long as he could remember, and He was his best friend.<br>But was he in love with him?  
>He knew that answer to that too, and so did Hayley, so there wasn't any point in hiding it anymore, so far, it hadn't helped him at all.<br>"Yeah, I do."

"Then you have to tell him."

Gerard froze, was Hayley seriously saying Gerard should announce to his best friend out of the blue that he was in love with him? Was she crazy?

"It's too late for that now."

"It's not. Don't think like that. I can't tell you how Frank feels Gerard, but if you keep this to yourself you'll never know."

Gerard sighed, defeated. Of course, she was right. As always.  
>But she hadn't watched Frank with Brendon, she hated saw the way they looked at each other, and it was because of that Gerard would keep this to himself. He would never tell Frank how he felt, Frank deserved to be happy and if that meant he would be with Brendon then so be it, it didn't matter how miserable it made Gerard. Frank would always come first.<p>

"Can we just sleep, please? I'm tired." Gerard said.

"Of course." Hayley replied and stood up, pulling Gerard with her.

Gerard knew she wouldn't let him off this lightly, but for tonight, all he wanted to do was sleep and try to forget about today, about everything. 


	8. Hello Cold World

Gerard left Hayley's pretty early, there was only so long he could stand her worried glances and unsubtle prompts to get him to speak what was on his mind. He lied through his teeth to his mom about how much fun he'd had with Frank, then hid upstairs for the rest of the morning. When he turned his phone back on after he turned it off the night before so he wouldn't have to deal with explaining to Frank, his phone buzzed and beeped continuously for six minutes straight.  
>His phone merrily announced he had nine missed calls, three texts and five voice mails. All off Frank.<br>Gerard didn't listen to any of the voice mails, but the texts seemed to spell it out.

'What the hell happened there? Are you alright? F x'

'Seriously Gee are you okay?'

'GERARD. ANSWER MY CALLS.'

Gerard pressed the reply button and sighed, what was he supposed to say?

'Stop pretending like you care' he wrote, then quickly deleted it.

He eventually decided on a simple reassurance 'I'm fine. I'll talk later' he typed, and sent it before turning his phone off again and putting it in his drawer.  
>He couldn't face talking to Frank just yet, ever since admitting how much he really did love Frank, his whole world hadn't just shifted, it was spinning, spinning too fast for him to keep up.<p>

* * *

><p>Gerard absolutely dreaded school the next day, even though at dinner he'd probably be expected to sit and smile and act like everything was still the same as it was weeks, or even days ago, so instead of having to suffer that he escaped to the music rooms, planning to tell Hayley he'd gone for singing lessons or something, when really he just didn't want to be around Frank.<br>He headed off his usual room then stopped in his tracks just as he was about to go through the door.  
>He heard someone laughing.<p>

Not just anyone. Frank. And he was with Brendon.

Gerard should've walked away immediately, but something stopped him, and instead he hid himself and watched the two boys through the gap in the door. They were sat on the table side by side, legs swinging and giggling uncontrollably while staring at a piece of paper in Brendon's hand, suddenly Frank yanked the paper away from Brendon and skipped around the room, holding the paper above his head. Gerard smiled fondly, Frank was about half the size of Brendon and yet he still attempted to hold it above his head as if Brendon couldn't reach it.  
>Brendon jumped off the table and went racing after Frank.<p>

"Give it back Frankie" Brendon laughed, attempting to snag the paper while Frank continued to hurry around the room giggling like a maniac.

Finally Brendon caught up, grabbing Frank and pinning him against the lockers with a bang. They were both laughing hysterically and trying to catch their breaths while Brendon had hold of both of Frank's wrists and was holding them by his side both of the boys stopped giggling, and tension filled the air. Brendon and Frank's faces were inches apart and Gerard watched in horror as Brendon searched Frank's face wide eyed, while Frank's eyes locked onto Brendon's, and Brendon edged in closer…

Gerard turned on his heel and practically ran down the corridor, digging his fingers into his eyes so he wouldn't cry. His whole chest felt painfully full with air and his heart was thudding against his ribs. When he made it to the bathrooms he locked himself in a cubicle and rested his forehead against the cold wall, trying to breathe properly without much success. His head was throbbing and his eyes were stinging and his whole body was shaking.  
>But he was not going to cry.<p>

Gerard rubbed his eyes and straightened his t-shirt, then took a breath. Then another. And another.  
>Then he stepped out of the toilets and hurried back to class, hoping he could keep composure until the end of the day, even though he was pretty sure his heart had disintegrated and his lungs had burst.<br>He just hoped to god he wouldn't see Frank again.

* * *

><p>Frank hadn't quite clicked what was going on until Brendon's mouth touched his own, then he finally found his arms again and managed to push Brendon away.<p>

"Woah, Brendon dude, what the fuck?" Frank laughed slightly, far too bewildered to function properly.

Brendon stood there, his eyes still half closed and he swayed a little on the spot, then steadied himself.

"Wha-I thought…" Brendon was going pale, and he backed up slightly to rest against the table "I thought you…I thought you and me…" Brendon trailed off but Frank suddenly understood, like all of the blood had rushed back to his brain all at once.

Oh shit, what had he done?

"Oh, oh shit Brendon…No I didn't…"

Brendon looked absolutely horrified and before Frank could blink Brendon had staggered out of the room and ran down the corridor.  
>Frank put his head in his hands and sighed. How could he be so stupid?<p>

"Fuck" he muttered, moving his hands up to tug at his hair viciously "I am an idiot"  
>Frank planned to make it through the rest of the day, then get to Hayley's house and talk too her. She'd know what to do, hopefully.<p>

* * *

><p>"I think I have a problem" was the first thing that came out of Frank's mouth when Hayley opened the door to him, she had a hand on her hip and one eyebrow was raised. Apparently she knew about his problem, and she wasn't impressed.<p>

"Get in" she said bluntly "We need to talk mister" Frank was a little worried-something was up and clearly Frank was out of the loop, but it had something to do with him.

Hayley lead Frank up to her room and sat down on her bed, scowling up at Frank.

"What's up?" she said it as if she already knew the answer.

"Uhm…Brendon tried to kiss me…well he did kiss me but I pushed him away then he kinda said he thought I wanted to kiss him, but he didn't say it all because he ran away and I-"

Hayley held her hand up, stopping Frank in his tracks, "Take a breath and sit down" she said calmly, and Frank did as he was told, sitting on the end of the bed opposite Hayley.

"You have no idea why he kissed you?" she asked.

"Well, he said it's because he thought I…"

Hayley interrupted Frank again "Thought you were flirting with him?"

"Well I suppose so yeah"

"That's because you were."

Frank frowned and opened his mouth to protest, "No…Oh god.."

Frank sighed as he thought back over the last few months. Maybe he had lead Brendon on, just little. Okay maybe a lot. The touching, the hugging and the secrets.

Hayley watched Frank's moment of realization in silence, still scowling at him slightly.

"I've been a jerk, haven't I?" He said quietly.

Hayley nodded "Yeah you have, you've hurt a lot of people."

Frank rolled his eyes "Brendon will get over it, I'll apologize and he….why are you looking at me like that!"

Hayley lobbed once of her soft toys at Frank, hitting him right in the face "Why are you so oblivious!" she yelled.  
>"Gerard? Remember him, he was your best friend?"<p>

Frank's brain felt like it was melting "What…What has this got to do with Gee?"

"Have you seen him recently? Like properly, without Brendon being there?" Hayley asked.

"I guess not" Frank muttered, his thoughts were slowly trudging through the brain mush; he still had no idea what Hayley was getting at.

"Can you not see it Frankie? C'mon, I've know you both since we were kids, Can't you see how hurt he is? While you were merrily flirting with Brendon you were hurting Gerard, I got a hysterical call from him a few hours ago telling me you'd kissed Brendon, he must have seen"

Frank panicked, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Gerard

"I didn't mean it" he whispered, it was all he could manage to say.

Hayley put an arm around Franks shoulder and sighed.

"I know you didn't" she whispered back "But you need to fix it with Brendon and especially with Gee okay?"

Frank sighed "Every thing's changing" he whimpered, he sounded like a total baby but he didn't care "I don't like it"

"It'll be okay" Hayley said, squeezing Frank's hand "I promise"

Frank squeezed back "I hope you're right" he muttered, the uneasy feeling in his gut told him the next few weeks would be absolute hell.


	9. Looking Up

Gerard was avoiding Frank, Hayley could tell. Mostly because the only time she had seen Gerard in the last few days was when Frank wasn't around.  
>Frank hadn't been himself either, he'd been walking around in a day dream, barley talking to anyone or paying attention to anything.<br>Someone really needed to lock them both in a room so they could sort things out.  
>Hayley hated being stuck in the middle and she refused to choose sides.<p>

"You're thinking way too hard, I can tell" Taylor was suddenly at her side, smiling down at her.

"Oh, yeah...Hey there." She replied and blinked trying to clear her mind.

"What's up, beautiful?" Taylor looked at her with a look that Hayley knew all too well, he was worried about her, again.  
>Hayley sighed and shrugged, "I just want everything to go back to the way it was. I hate seeing them both hurting."<p>

Taylor nodded and took Hayley's hand in his "You've done everything you can, Hayls. It's up to them to fix it now."

"I know," Hayley said and smiled slightly at Taylor. He always knew what to say to make her feel better.

"You wanna' go and get some more song writing done?" Taylor said, he was obviously trying to take her mind off of the whole Frank and Gee thing.

"Yeah, sure. That's probably a good idea, we should get something done," Hayley said and stood up on her tip toes to kiss him on the cheek "And thank you."

"For what?" he asked, a smile still etched on his face.

"Just being here." Hayley murmured.

Taylor leaned down and pressed his lips lightly to Hayley's before straightening up. He opened his mouth to say something but once again, was interrupted.

"Ew, gross. Do you two ever make out somewhere private?"

Hayley turned her head to see Frank leaning against his locker with his eyebrows raised.

"This is the first time you've talked all day and I already want to tell you to shut up." She laughed.

"Get a room." Frank smirked and pushed himself away from the lockers.

"Get a life." Hayley replied.

"Get a-" Frank began but Hayley didn't hear the end of it because her attention was now on the commotion going on over his shoulder.

Josh had some kid pinned up against a locker and was laughing in his face as one of his dumb ass followers punched him square in the jaw.  
>Frank must have seen the expression on Hayley's face because he turned and followed her eye line.<p>

"That fucking jackass, he can't keep getting away with this." Hayley said, she couldn't help but think of the shit she and her friends had been put through with Manson three years ago. If it hadn't been for Bert it would have probably gone on much longer.  
>Before anyone could stop her she'd taken off down the hall way and pushed Josh to the floor.<br>If he hadn't been caught off guard there was no way he would have budged but, sadly for him, he was now on his ass.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? " Josh spat and jumped back up.

"Me, are you serious?" She yelled back, "You just had some kid backed up in a corner while you and your friends kicked the shit out of him and you have the nerve to ask me what the fuck I'm doing?"

Josh took a step forward and locked eyes with Hayley "Not that It has anything to do with you, you stupid-"

"Don't you dare talk to her like that." Taylor and Frank had finally caught up with her; she could see Frank pulling the kid Josh had been beating up away from the argument out of the corner of her eye.

"Why the hell shouldn't I? This has got fuck all too do with you." Josh practically growled.

Hayley could see Taylor was losing it, she'd never seen him this pissed. His face was beginning to turn red and his fists were clenched at his sides.

"You're nothing but a nosey little bitch and you're always getting the fucking way." Josh continued.

And that was around the time Taylor snapped, he grabbed Josh by the collar of his shirt and shoved him against the wall behind him.

Which probably wasn't the brightest of ideas because Josh band of assholes pulled Taylor away and held him in place until Josh composed himself.  
>"Big mistake."<p>

"I would have to agree with you there Mr Farro." A voice came from behind Hayley but not before Josh managed throw a punch at Taylor, square in face.

"Ken!" Hayley yelped.

"Mr Nixon." He sighed then turned his attention back too the group in front of him.

"Josh, Andy, Ashley. Principles office now." He said pointing towards the front of the school.

"You four can go and wait in my class room." He smiled at them and nodded in the direction he had just come from "And Taylor, you should probably but some ice on that. Looks like you're gonna' have a black eye."

"Got it." He muttered and took Hayley's hand and walked toward the classroom.

* * *

><p>"Shit!" Frank said "I can't believe that just happened."<p>

"Well, the prick had it coming." Hayley murmured and pressed an ice pack lightly against Taylor's eye.

"Hey, are you okay. Your names Ryan, right?" Taylor asked the kid Josh had been picking on.

"Yeah it is, I'm fine." He said quietly and went back to staring at his hands.

Frank looked at Ryan for a second "I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

"We're in the same Math class, you're Brendon's boyfriend aren't you?" Ryan said and looked at Frank.

Taylor had to cough to cover up a laugh when he saw Franks expression.

"No," He said "Why does everybody think that!"

"Sorry, you just looked like a couple, you were always together." Ryan said, sounding a little happier than before.

"Oh my god" Frank huffed and crossed his arms.

"Are you a friend of Brendon's?" Hayley asked Ryan.

"Not really, we've talked a couple of times." Ryan had gone back to muttering again and funnily enough his cheeks were starting to redden.

Interesting, Hayley thought to herself.

"I better get to class." Frank said and stood up suddenly, he obviously just wanted to escape the awkward tension that was filling the room, "If you guys need me to vouch for you when Principle Flint gets here, you know where to find me."

Hayley had never seen Frank flee from anywhere so fast.

"I'll be right back." Ryan mumbled, and left the room too.

"And then there were two." Taylor said

"That was awkward" Hayley said and hopped up on the table next to Taylor.

"Very" Taylor answered and placed the ice pack down on the table.

"Are you okay? You should've let me deal with Josh on my own, I don't want you getting involved with that any more than you have to."

"I know you can take care of yourself, Hayley, but he's not getting away with talking to you like that, I won't let him."

"But look at what he did to you, Taylor. You got hurt and it's my fault." Hayley sighed.

"Hey, I chose to get involved, this is not your fault. It's just a black eye, it'll clear up. I'd rather I got hurt than you." Taylor smiled down at Hayley and pushed a stray strand of her behind her ear.

"I don't understand why you'd do that for me." She said.

Taylor paused for a second "Well," he took one of Hayley hands in his and placed the other lightly on her cheek "it's because I love you."

Hayley placed her free hand over Taylor's and smiled at him, how had she gotten so lucky, juts five months ago she'd been, alone. Happy but alone. She'd always felt a little like a third wheel when Mikey wasn't hanging with her and the guys, though she'd never admit it.  
>But now here she was, in love with someone who felt the same as she did.<br>And he was perfect.

"I love you too." She replied, and she meant it.

Taylor's face broke into a smile and Hayley sighed happily, leaning up to kiss him.

"No making out in public places remember" She winked.

Taylor chuckled and put an arm around Hayley.

Everything was finally falling into place.

Well, she frowned, thinking of Gerard and Frank, almost everything. 


	10. Feeling Sorry

**NOTE**: Just a little note too tell our usual readers that we updated with two chapters today, so if you've skipped to o the last chapter. Go back :)

* * *

><p>Frank stood at the front of Gerard's house and fidgeted impatiently, waiting for someone to answer the door, he was nervous but he wasn't quite sure why, he knew he was facing stuff he never had before because he'd never needed to, but right now while he and Gerard weren't getting on for the first time ever and Gerard was upset, now seemed the best time to confront everything and speak to Gerard properly like he probably should have done a long time ago.<br>The door opened and Mikey was there, stood with one eyebrow raised and his hand on his hip- the exact position Hayley had been in when Frank visited her house the day Brendon kissed him.

"What are you smirking at?" Mikey frowned, and Frank forced himself to look solemn once again.

"Can I speak to Gerard please?" he asked and Mikey sighed "he's downstairs, in his room, Where he has been for the past few days, you might be able to at least get him out of his room for an hour."

Frank frowned, so Gerard had been hiding? Strange.

"I'm going out" Mikey said, walking past Frank "See you later dude"

Frank shut the door behind Mikey and shook his head in bewilderment, it still scared him how quickly Mikey was growing up, it seems like only a matter of weeks ago he was a tiny, ill looking kid with huge glasses and a hell of an attitude, he still had that attitude but he was super tall now with dyed and styled hair and contacts instead of his trademark glasses, and he had a girlfriend, he was growing up far too fast, Frank was pretty sure he hadn't even made the transition from being a kid to being a teenager yet.  
>Frank headed down into the basement and to Gerard's room, and found Gerard sat on his bed, staring into space. It was only when Frank looked closer he realised Gerard had his headphones in, so Frank edged a little closer and waved at Gerard, trying not to startle him.<br>But the way Gerard reacted was like Frank had ran up behind him and smacked him over the head with a metal bar. Gerard jumped a foot in the air and fell off the bed, then stared up at Frank wide eyed.

"Oh shit sorry I tried not to scare you, are you okay?" Frank asked, holding his hand out to help Gerard up, but Gerard ignored Frank's hand and struggled up himself, sitting back on the bed and taking his headphones out, placing his IPod carefully on the desk.

"S'okay. What're you here for?" Gerard was doing that fake smile he thought convinced people he was okay, but Frank knew better.

"Am I not allowed to visit you anymore?" Frank asked, frowning, he could usually visit Gerard's at three in the morning and not be questioned.

Gerard sighed and shook his head "Of course you are, sorry Frank"

They both stood in an awkward silence for what seemed a life time until Frank couldn't handle it and decided to be the one to speak.

"Look, Gee I know things have been a little shit between us-"

"Really?" Gerard interrupted, Frank could detect the slightest bit of sourness Gerard was obviously trying to hide.

"I don't think so. Things are fine" Gerard had clearly forgotten Frank had known him since like, the beginning of time and he knew Gerard was playing his little defensive game, pretending nothing was going on and hoping it would go away, Frank also knew Gerard would explode eventually and let everything out, and Frank planned to be the detonator.

"Well there was the whole closet incident at your birthday…" Frank's stomach always did a weird swoop when he thought about that, but it still made him smile a little through the awkwardness, it was an embarrassing memory, but I good one all the same.  
>Gerard however, went really pale and he looked at Frank like he'd just announced something scandalous Gerard had never known of before.<p>

Frank just frowned and carried on "And, I know I've been ignoring you because of Brendon okay but I-"

Gerard interrupted again, he smiled, but his lower lip trembled and he still looked pale "I don't care about you and Brendon, honest. As long as you're happy Frankie I'm happy okay? You and Brendon…you go well together anyway"

Frank shook his head in total disbelief, Gerard was suffering and Frank hadn't even realised. The Brendon thing had back fired and now Gerard was hurting.

"Gee, Brendon and I aren't together. We never have been or ever will be. I know you saw us in the music rooms but it was all a big mi-" "

You two should be together, it'd be cute, Brendon likes you and you like him so…" Frank sighed and it took all of his strength to hold his temper.

"I swear to god Gerard if you interrupt me one more time I'm going to gag you and nail you to the wall until I've finished speaking! I haven't even admitted I'm gay yet!"

Gerard's eyes shot up into his hairline "So you are gay?" he asked quietly.

Frank hit himself in the forehead. "Well of course I am! It's not exactly a massive secret, Hayley's known since I was ten, apparently"

"I wasn't sure" Gerard half whispered, staring at the bed sheets "We're getting off the point anyway. Brendon and I aren't a couple, it was all a misunderstanding and we're cool now, but it's you I'm worried about."  
>Gerard looked up and frowned "Why would you be worried about me?" he asked, and Frank rolled his eyes "because I care about you idiot. And only now I'm realising how much I've hurt you. I dropped you, my best friend in the whole world suddenly for some guy you hardly knew…and neither did I, I guess"<p>

Gerard was watching Frank in silence, his eyes were shining with tears and Frank could feel a knot in his throat too "Everything's changing right now. Everything's going to shit and we can't stop it, but we need to stick together, and I guess I sort of forgot that"

Gerard remained silent but Frank couldn't stop now, the words were pouring out of him, like his body had made a deal that as long as the words kept coming the tears would remain behind his eyes "Everything's spinning to fast and I, I don't know what to do. We'll be leaving school soon and all be going to college and splitting up and there's all this shit going on in my head that I don't understand. But I know I need you" Frank made himself look Gerard in the eye. "You always make everything better for me and stop everything from spinning, even if it's just for a while. I need you with me Gee, and that's why I think we need to talk about stuff properly y'know?" Frank took a deep breath and waited.

"There's nothing to talk about" Gerard said, his voice was getting quieter every time he spoke and he'd gone back to staring at the sheets.

"What do you mean there's nothing to talk about!" Frank couldn't help but raise his voice, he'd just poured his heart out the best he could and Gerard was still being a prick.

Gerard suddenly stood up and scowled. Here came the explosion "I mean there's nothing I can talk to you about! Yes, shit is happening and yes what you said is true but I don't even know what's going on so how could I tell you!" Gerard was flailing his hands about angrily and his face was getting red, so Frank waited, he wasn't quite out of steam yet. "Yes, I hate Brendon, and I hated you being around him! I don't even know why but I did! It was like you replaced me and it hurt so bad, then when I saw you kissing I…" Gerard trailed off and hugged himself, taking a step back and shutting his eyes tight.

"Let me get this clear" Frank said slowly "I didn't kiss him. He kissed me, and it was a mistake."

"Oh come on I saw how you two were with each other! If that wasn't flirting I don't know what the fuck is!" Gerard spat  
>Frank frowned, were they really that bad "do you know why I became friends with Brendon?" he asked.<p>

Gerard shook his head and looked confused.

"Because he's the best damn musician in the school, he's awesome, and I knew you had a lot on your plate and you've most probably forgot about that music performance we have to do in a couple of weeks"

Gerard's expression showed he had forgotten and was currently panicking so Frank continued "So I asked Brendon for his help with writing the song, I don't know shit and I wanted our song to be good, but I guess it got out of hand."

Both boys stared at the floor in silence, until Frank decided to break the silence once again "Y'know I love you Gee, I didn't mean to upset you, I just can't help being a dick sometimes I guess"

"You'd think I'd have got used to it by now" Gerard muttered, then laughed slightly, they both looked up at each other and smiled. For the first time in a very long time Frank had the feeling that everything would be okay.

They both paused again, but this time before Frank could speak Gerard had made it across the room and had pinned Frank against the wall.

And he was kissing him.

Gerard. Was kissing him.

Frank's brain went into an absolute meltdown for a few seconds, then went he caught up his hands were in Gerard's hair and they were still kissing.

It wasn't particularly romantic or amazing, their noses bumped a lot and they were both trying to catch their breaths and sounded a bit like asthmatic seals but to Frank, it was perfect, because it was Gerard.

Everything that had been buzzing around in his head had settled, everything felt perfectly calm and normal and just right.

Gerard pulled away, his hair was all over the place and his eyes were huge but he was grinning "I'm sorry" he whispered "I don't know why I did that" Frank giggled

"I do" he said, and pulled Gerard forward by his collar and kissed him again.

Frank felt on top of the world, he must have been waiting for this for so long but never really realised it, he truly thought everything was really going to be okay, more than okay. Gerard pulled away slightly again and rested his forehead on Frank's, he still had his arms wrapped around Frank's waist and his face mirrored exactly what Frank was feeling.

"You're such an idiot" he said fondly.

Frank grinned "but I'm your idiot" he replied.

"I guess you are" Gerard laughed, then hugged Frank a little closer.

"I guess I'm cool with that."


	11. Sometimes I Just Go For It

Hayley was overjoyed when she saw Frank and Gerard walking side by side down the school path, talking and giggling like they used to before. She felt a huge sense of relief and couldn't help but beam madly at them both as they approached, both boys beamed back at her and Hayley couldn't remember a time when she'd been this happy, she leant against Taylor and smiled up at him "told you things would work out" he said smugly, but he was smiling back. They all walked into school together and stood and chatted for a long time, Hayley was a little suspicious of Frank and Gerard- Frank had an extreme shit eating grin and Gerard looked a little…nervous about something, she put it down to the two boys renewing their friendship again.

She realised she was wrong pretty damn quick, however, when the bell rang. "Oh crap I better go" Gerard said, he grinned at everyone in turn then hurried off down the corridor, but Frank chased after him. "Hey! Wait." he called, and before Gerard could turn around Frank snagged Gerard by the collar and was kissing him full on the lips. Hayley was pretty sure she had a heart attack "Are…you seeing what I'm seeing?" she heard Taylor say, and she just nodded because she'd ran out of words to say. Frank and Gerard hadn't just made friends with each other again, they were a couple.

Frank and Gerard eventually pulled away from each other and Hayley quickly composed herself, moving to lean against the lockers. "Ew, gross" she called, mimicking Frank's tone from the previous day "Do you two ever make out somewhere private?" Frank and Gerard looked at Hayley and laughed, ignoring the stares the two boys were getting. Hayley felt giddy with glee, she'd been waiting for this day for god knows how long. "See you later guys!" Gerard called, trundling off to turned round and winked at Hayley, then headed off to his room too. Taylor was still stood frozen to the spot with his mouth wide open. Hayley snorted and pushed his jaw shut "Didn't see that coming did we?" she said, still just shook his head "At least they're…talking now" he said eventually, and Hayley laughed and grabbed his hand. "I'm pretty sure there won't be much talking involved for the next few days. I'm so happy for them though" she added merrily, Taylor put his arm around Hayley's waist and pulled her to his side."Everything is most definitely okay" he laughed.

"Frankie stop it" Gerard laughed and shuffled a little to the and Frank had spent the most part of the day trying to study or working on their song, Gerard was currently sprawled across his bedroom floor amongst mounds of papers and books, trying to concentrate on finishing the song. But apparently Frank was intent on distracting 'd randomly peck Gerard's cheek or shut the book he was looking at to get his one point he'd even turned the music up and started dancing around the room, he really didn't want to now, he was kissing Gerard's neck and Gerard was quickly losing focus on the task at hand."Frankie, C'mon we need to get this done." Gerard murmured and pulled himself up to sit on his knees, Frank stayed on the floor grinning up at him. Gerard sighed and bent down to press his lips lightly too his, he really couldn't resist that smile for long."There." Gerard said and held the piece of paper "Done.""So, what now?" Frank asked."Um, I don't know maybe we should practice?" Gerard replied and jumped up, he'd finished the song after 6 hours of attempting to do work with Frank as a distraction the whole time. It seemed that as soon as he and Frank had finally sorted out their feelings for one another and gotten together, everything had fallen into place. Including the lyrics to this -sure to be- awesome song."Sounds perfect to me!" Frank beamed and held his hand out for Gerard too pull him up, but the sneaky little jerk had something else on his mind, sure it could be called practicing, but it certainly wasn't the kind that Gerard had meant. Frank's mouth was on his, their lips moving lightly together. His bare feet stumbled on the carpet and they tumbled back on to the bed, they were both use to kissing by now but this time it was different, there was a yearning behind it, an unspoken need. Gerard felt an urgency inside of him, a heat inside of his stomach and the only thing that could subdue it was for Frank to be close. He had wanted this for so long, for Frank to be his, for them to belong to each other and now that it had finally happened why shouldn't they revel in it and get lost in each other for a smiled against Frank's lips and wound his fingers tightly into Frank's shirt, taking the weight of him onto his body. They rolled sideways, Franks legs scissoring around his, their bodies shifting to press closer to one another, until it became hard to breathe. A quiet gasp for air passed Gerard's lips, although he didn't care much, all he wanted was for Frank to feel as good as he did in this moment; he snaked his arms around Frank's waist while his hands wandered to the small of his back. Frank broke the kiss and looked down at him, breathless, and shook his hair out of his face. Gerard couldn't stop himself from reaching up to touch Franks cheek, his skin was so pale that he could see the blush creeping up onto Franks face. Neither of them were experienced when it came to any of this, but as inexperienced as they both were he thought they were doing a pretty damn good job; it felt natural and perfectly normal, like Gerard and Frank suddenly knew exactly what they were doing. Gerard drew Frank down to him, once again, their lips crashing together in a passionate kiss. He felt Franks weight shift on top of him as he straddled his waist, never once breaking their embrace. Frank lightly trailed his hands down Gerard body, his breath ragged when he reached the bottom of Gerard's shirt, he slipped his hands up underneath it and let his hands graze the sensitive bare skin of Gerard's stomach, making him shiver in a silent slowly lifted Gerard's shirt over his head, throwing it to the floor, they both stopped and stared at each other, Frank's hair was a tousled mess, his eyes were huge and his cheeks were flushed. Gerard guessed that he looked no better, but they were both smiling at each other, and Gerard felt like he could fly- Frank was his and he was Frank's, and nothing could be better than that. Frank bent down again, his hands sliding up from Gerard's stomach to his chest as he lowered himself to kiss Gerard both froze when they heard a floorboard creak outside Gerard's room. Frank jumped and untangled himself from Gerard , startled. Gerard's eyes were on the door, hoping to god it was just Mikey, but Gerard's dad was stood in the hallway, staring at them both with an expression that could only be described as pure disappointment. Gerard didn't know what to say or do, he opened his mouth to explain, but his father beat him to it.

"Gerard. Put your shirt on and come downstairs. Frank. Go home."

Frank got up silently, and brushed his hand across Gerard's back as he got up; he threw Gerard his shirt back, then hurried out of the room and down the stairs. Gerard heard the door slam behind him.

Gerard slowly put his shirt on and stood up, then looked at his father who still had the stony expression from before plastered on his face.

"Downstairs. Now" he repeated, raising his voice only a little, but enough that Gerard jumped and pretty much ran down the stairs.

"Hey honey, I heard Frank leave, did you two-" his mother turned from the couch to look at Gerard, then her face dropped when she saw Gerard's expression "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing. I just uh, need to go out for a while" Gerard mumbled, hurriedly grabbing his jacket and heading for the door.

"You're not going anywhere" Gerard's father's voice came from behind him; Gerard froze and locked his jaw.

"You can't stop me" he said determined, both of them knew Gerard wasn't just talking about leaving.

"Get in the kitchen" his father said calmly, and when Gerard didn't oblige, his father grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him into the kitchen. Gerard's mom and Mikey followed to, asking what was going on.

When his father released his grip, Gerard hurried over to the end of the kitchen further away from him, leaning against the counter and staring at the floor, Mikey followed and copied Gerard's stance, glaring at his dad. Gerard smiled slightly; it was nice to have a brother who'd back you up even if you were wrong.

"Explain yourself" Gerard's Father commanded, and he sighed, how the hell was he going to explain this? He might as well start with the basics.

"If you haven't guessed already. I'm gay" Gerard looked up and stared at his Father, refusing to blink or show any expression, his Dad's expression mirrored his own when he replied.

"No you're not" he said simply, both Gerard and Mikey snorted simultaneously in disbelief.

"Whether you like it or not, I am. Frank's my boyfriend" Mikey reached down and squeezed Gerard's hand, "You need to accept that." Gerard's mom smiled at him from across the room, at least he wasn't totally alone.

"It's just a phase and you'll get over it, I don't think you should see Frank for a while and make some new friends, and this'll all just be a stupid experiment you had in no time"

"I love him" Gerard couldn't stop himself from saying it, he made a mental note to tell Frank that sometime soon."No you don't, Stop acting so delusional." His Father snapped back.

Gerard had kept his cool until now but he could feel his anger boiling and rising inside him, how dare he say that!

Mikey spoke before Gerard did "Oh come on dad! Even I knew Gerard was gay, I have since I was eleven, he and Frankie are like, made for each other. Get a grip"Gerard had kept his cool until now but he could feel his anger boiling and rising inside him, how dare he say that! He smirked and spoke slowly; he knew exactly what would make his dad suffer- the simple truth."I. Like. Boys." He said simply "I love Frank, what you saw wasn't an experiment, it was real, and I'd do it again"Gerard was not expecting what would happen next, his Father tuned away slowly, sucking in short sharp breaths, then suddenly turned on his heel and slapped Gerard right across the face."You evil low life bastard scum!" Mikey yelledTheir father strode over to Mikey and lifted him up off the floor by his shirt, putting his face right next to Mikey's and making Mikey cower,"How dare you speak to me like that Michael Way" he spat, Mikey looked terrified and Gerard's anger became even more uncontrollable, his face stung horribly but he didn't care "I do not have a loudmouth know-it-all who disrespects his father for a son and I do not have a gay son either! It is shameful and unnatural and I will not have a freak in my house!" Gerard's father stabbed a finger and Gerard shame mixed itself in with his anger; he disgusted his father just because of who he'd chosen to love

And that's about the time the whole room Mother pushed their Father away from Mikey and glared at him "How dare you!" she screamed, then said it again, tears running down her face. Mikey grabbed Gerard's hand and began shouting too, Mikey had never stood up to his dad before, he idolised him, but now everything had turned and Mikey was battling against his father. Gerard was shaking, his head and his heart felt like they were going to burst, and the anger simmering inside him rose and rose and made his skin throb and his face burn. "Shut up!" he screamed, silencing the room. He looked to Mikey and his mother, who both looked distraught "I love you guys, so much. But I can't live in a house with someone who views me for who I love and not who I am" Gerard headed for the door, then turned to face his father, who still appeared totally calm, if not a little shaken. Gerard wanted to punch him just to see how calm he really was "I love you too, you know" he said quietly, trying to stop the tears from falling "because despite the fact you're an egotistical bastard who cares more about his social status than his children, you're still my Father. I'm sorry I'm not the perfect Son you've always wanted." Gerard slammed the door shut on his way out, and then hurried to Hayley's as quickly as he could, knowing Frank would be there.

When Gerard got to the house Hayley opened the door before he even got a chance to knock, and Frank had ran to him and pulled him into a hug before he could speak. Frank's cheeks were soaked with tears "I'm so sorry, Gee! He whispered in the Gerard's didn't reply, he just buried his face into frank's hair and help on tighter. "C'mon guys, inside" Hayley said, and Frank let go of Gerard, holding onto his hand and leading him inside. Taylor was sat in Hayley's room when they all walked back in, and he smiled sympathetically at Gerard and patted him on the back as he sat down beside him. Gerard was so glad to have friends like these."So he did hit you?" Frank gasped, stroking Gerard's cheek and soothing the sting of it a little."You know?" Gerard asked. Hayley nodded "Mikey rang us as your dad brought you all in the kitchen, he must have guessed something had happened" "Mikey is a genius" Gerard said fondly, leaning on Frank's shoulder. Gerard spent a good hour listening to his friends rant about how stupid and how much a dickhead Gerard's father was, while Frank got himself as close to Gerard as humanly possible, snuggling into his neck and still crying slightly, Gerard wrapped his arms around Frank "It wasn't your fault stupid" he whispered under his breath, so only Frank could hear. Frank just shook his head.

"I can't stay here tonight" Gerard finally announced sadly "It's the second place my dad will look" "What about my house?" Frank said hopefully."Yours is the first place he'll look Frankie" he said, and Frank looked miserable."Stay at my place" Taylor suddenly suggested, everyone looked to him and he shrugged "You're dad has never met me and hardly know I exist, my parents won't mind" Gerard smiled at Taylor "You guys are the best" he said with a smile, he felt betrayed and shameful sure, but he was surrounded by people who loved him and his Dad was just a bug on his windscreen, it would all be okay, he was sure.


	12. Find A Way

Taylor didn't ask Gerard for the full story during the ride to his house, he didn't even speak, he must have known Gerard wasn't really in the mood for talking He switched on the radio and let the car fill with music. Gerard pressed his cheek against the cool glass of the window and looked out onto the road ahead. Why did shit always have to happen too him? Every time life was finally looking up something bad had too happen for it all to come crashing down around him. No wonder he constantly felt like there was a heavy weight pressing down on his shoulders.  
>Everything was so fucked up again.<br>And it was all because he was gay, because he was attracted to guys. Because he was in love with a guy.  
>Why couldn't his Father just accept him for he was?<br>He was still the same person he was three weeks ago and it wasn't like he'd tried to hid the fact he was interested in men. Mikey and Hayley had known how he felt about Frank before he'd even realised it himself.  
>Gerard sighed, closed his eyes and tried not too think about it for the rest of the journey.<p>

"You okay?" Taylor asked as he drove through an open set of gates.

"Yeah…" Gerard murmured and looked out of the window taking in his surroundings, "Where the hell are we?"

"We're pulling into my driveway." Taylor laughed and stopped the car.

Gerard arched an eyebrow and looked up at the house in front of him, it was pretty damn big. It even had a huge set of stone steps leading up to the door.

"If you live here, why the hell do you spend most of your time at our houses?" Gerard asked still gawking.

"My house may be nice but its empty most of the time." He shrugged.

"Oh." was all Gerard could say as he and Taylor made their way up the steps and through the front door.

"Mom?" Taylor called as he through his coat into a small room next to the door.

There was no answer, Gerard stood awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs as Taylor jogged to the top of them.

"You coming up here or what?" He asked.

"Are you sure your parents will be okay with me staying over? Gerard said

"Of course, Hayley stays over all the time." Taylor shrugged.

Gerard raised his eyebrows at Taylor; he so did not need to know that.

Taylor laughed, "Not like that you douche, she stays in one of the guest rooms." Taylor rolled his eyes and opened one of the numerous doors.

"You can sleep in here, my rooms just down the hall."

"Awesome, Thanks." Gerard replied.

Taylor stood in the doorway and opened his mouth to say something just as Gerard's cell phone started too ring.  
>Gerard sighed and pulled it from his pocket and saw Mikey's name flashing on the screen, he clicked answer and pressed it to his ear;<br>"Hey Mikes." He said putting on a cheery voice.

"Gerard! Where are you? Moms really worried, she managed to calm Dad down…a little."

"I'm fine, I'm at Taylors. Don't tell Dad, are you ok?"

"Yeah." Mikey paused for a second "He'll get over it, y'know. He can't stay mad forever."

"I hope you're right, Mikey. I really do." Gerard said.

"I'm always right. Shit, Dad's coming. I'll see you at school." Mikey muttered and put the phone down.

"Looks like my Dad's still being a dick." Gerard murmured and sat down on the bed he'd probably be spending the next few days sleeping in.

"Don't worry about it, Dads can be ass holes but they can't stay mad for long." Taylor crossed the room and sat down in the empty chair next to the window.

"I don't know if he will. I've never seen him like that, he's usually the lenient one."

"Just give it time, once he sees how much you and Frank care about each other he'll understand." Taylor smiled and put his feet up.

"Oh he knows now." Gerard cringed as he thought back to his Dad walking in on him and Frank…was making out the right way to put it?

"What exactly happened? All Hayley said was your Dad kicked off big style because he found out you and Frank were together."

"It's more like…he saw us together."

"Oh shit. Do people not knock in Jersey?" Taylor asked, he looked a little horrified.

"Apparently not." Gerard laughed and felt bad for it, he was putting his family through hell. He shouldn't be laughing, "I just wish he'd accept it, it's not like it was huge secret. Hayley's known since we were kids."

"Yeah you two were way too obvious."

"Were we that bad?"

"Dude, the flirting was painful to watch." Taylor grinned.

Gerard smiled "Yeah well you and Haylz' weren't much better."

"At least it worked out for us all, or at least it will have soon enough." Taylor said.

"Yeah…" Gerard replied quietly.

"Hey Gerard, Seriously take it from me if you're Dads as chilled out as you say he is. You'll be fine."

"I guess." Gerard muttered. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. At the minute it didn't feel like his Father was ever going to accept him, ever.

"My Dad kicked me out." Taylor said suddenly and Gerard's head snapped up to look at him.

"What?" Gerard asked.

"My real Dad I mean, my Moms remarried. Alicia's my step sister." Taylor sighed.

Gerard didn't really know what to say so he asked "Why?"

Taylor shrugged and leaned back in his chair "Well, he's a Doctor and he had it in his head that I would go to med school and carry on his damn legacy. So when I told him I wanted to be a musician he pretty much told me he wanted nothing more to do with me. So I packed up my stuff and moved in with my Mom."

"I'm sorry." Gerard said.

"Don't be, he's tried to talk to me since. It's my fault that things aren't fixed between us. But he deserves to wait a while." Taylor murmured and shrugged again. "I know it's not the same, Gerard. But if My Dad can accept me for who I am, maybe yours can too."

Gerard nodded in reply, Taylor was right. If he knew anything about his Dad it was that he loved his family more than anything. And as mad as Gerard felt at the minute if he waited it out maybe in time his Dad would learn to get over it and move on.

"You're right." Gerard announced and put his phone down on the cabinet next to his bed.

"Well, obviously." Taylor replied with a sly grin "in a way I'm glad it happened. I have better friends and I wouldn't have met Hayley otherwise."

Gerard smiled "You really love her, huh."

"Yeah, more than anything" Taylor grinned widely and stood up, "You hungry?"

Now Gerard thought about, he really was. It had been a long day. "Yeah, too hungry"

"Pizza time!" Taylor whooped and walked out of the room, Gerard wasn't sure if he should follow but Taylor now had the ability to read minds. "Gerard get down here you don't have to stay wherever I leave you. This is your house too for as long as you need to stay" Taylor Yelled from downstairs.

"Got it" Gerard yelled back and made his way downstairs.

Maybe things were going to be okay.

Taylor ordered three different kinds of pizza and they ate it all in Taylor's massive kitchen

"Seriously dude, my kitchen would fit in here like, ten whole times" Gerard exclaimed with a full mouth.

Taylor just laughed and shook his head "Don't over exaggerate" he said simply.

Gerard couldn't understand how modest Taylor was about his mansion of a house. Frank was gonna freak out when Gerard told him. Gerard still couldn't help but smile when he thought of Frank, it was stupid, but he didn't care, Frank made him happy and he couldn't imagine life without him, whether he was his friend or his boyfriend- it didn't matter.  
>Frank was the brightest part of Gerard's day and Gerard needed to somehow show his dad how he felt, and that it wasn't just a stupid crush.<p>

"You've got a stupid grin on your face" Taylor commented, and Gerard hid his smile by stuffing another slice of pizza into his mouth and trying to look innocent "I saw your face. Why don't you give Frank a ring, I'm sure he'll be waiting for a call"

Gerard laughed "Why, cause you need time to ring Hayley?" he retorted with a grin.

Taylor chuckled "You caught me"

Gerard beamed, Taylor was so open about Hayley, it made Gerard happy just getting a hint of how happy Taylor was. He always acted like he'd hit the jackpot and Gerard was so ridiculously happy for them, that Hayley had found someone she deserved and so had Taylor. When they'd finished their pizza both went into their individual rooms for a while, and Gerard dialed Frank's number.

"Gee?" Frank picked up on the first ring and Gerard laughed.

"Of course. Who did you think it was idiot?" Gerard said fondly.

"Uhm, I don't know" Frank sounded a little embarrassed "So, You having fun at Taylors?"

"Yeah, you should see his house it's like mansion!" Gerard began gushing about the house and how impressive it was and Frank listened attentively, then began to whine about how Taylor never invited them round and that they should start hanging out and Taylor's more rather than Frank's basement.

"Oh c'mon I like your basement. It's the place to be" Gerard joked, though he really did love Frank's basement den, it was like his home from home.

"What you gonna do about your dad?" Frank eventually said, he sounded very withdrawn and obviously still felt a little guilty about what happened.

"I'm gonna talk to him" Gerard said simply "my theory is if I'm honest, he'll understand, I'm also gonna let him know you're coming to prom with me as my date. That might be the cherry on the cake of ruining my dad's ideal son idea he's got"

Frank laughed, then spoke in a in a fake sarcastic tone, Gerard could imagine his face- raising one eyebrow and pursing his lips "oh, who said I'm going to prom with you?" he asked, trying not to giggle.

"I did" Gerard replied with a grin.

"Ask me nicely" Frank was trying to sound serious and failing.

"Frankie, will you go to prom with me?" Gerard mocked Frank's tone

"Nicer than that"

Gerard chuckled and put on his best simpering voice "Frank Anthony Iero, will you please accompany me to the prom as my date? I promise I'll be good"

Frank hummed thoughtfully.

"I suppose so" he replied, then laughed "of course I will, I thought you'd never ask! Hayley's already picked out her dress"

"Oh god, Hayley wearing a dress!" Gerard still couldn't picture it, he knew she'd look gorgeous though "Please don't tell me you're wearing a dress Frank?" he laughed, and Frank burst into a fir of the giggles.

"I could totally rock a dress!" he protested with a laugh and Gerard shook his head.

"I'll see you soon" he said softly, and Frank whined jokingly about Gerard leaving him to be with Taylor for a few minutes before giving in and saying his goodbyes.

"Love you Gee" he said quietly, and hung up, leaving Gerard sitting and listening to a dial tone with a big smile on his face.

He and Taylor sat together in Taylor's room for a while after that, with Gerard texting Mikey asking for updates on what was going on. Apparently Gerard's father had gone to a motel for the night, by order of Gerard's mom, so he could 'think things through' as she had apparently put it.

"Go mom" Gerard muttered to himself with a slight smile, he knew the current mood at the house was not particularly great.

Taylor and Gerard sat and talked until the early hours of the morning, mostly about nothing in particular, though they did discuss the songs they were supposed to be composing quite a lot, and Gerard managed to sneak a peek at Taylor's lyric sheet- they were pretty damn good.  
>Eventually, Gerard fell asleep on the couch in Taylor's room and Taylor passed out on his bed, both too tired to even get changed or even move, and the next couple of days passed by like that. Gerard found out more about Taylor which he was pleased with, since Taylor was an awesome guy and Gerard never usually had a chance to speak to him properly, and Gerard never felt like he'd outstayed his welcome; even though the house was huge it was very comforting, but Taylor was right- the house was usually empty, Taylor must get lonely a lot.<br>On the third morning Frank and Hayley arrived at the door, and Gerard was greeted with a tackle hug from both of them and then he had to chase Frank around the house while he ran round excitedly, gawking at the magnitude of Taylor's home. He'd just managed to herd Frank back downstairs when his phone rang; his screen told him it was Mikey, he answered quickly, eager for news on the situation at the house, he hated to admit it, but he was hiding until things had blown over, he should be facing it, but he wanted to let everyone cool down before starting another argument.

"Sup Mikes?"

"Hey. Mom wants to speak to you" Mikey didn't sound worried or anything, so Gerard took that as a good sign.

"Hey honey" Gerard felt automatically calm by just hearing his mother's soft tone

"Hi mom, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Please come home Gerard, we can sort things out. There's no point in hiding." 


	13. My Way Home Is Through You

_"Please come home Gerard, we can sort things out. There's no point in hiding."_

Gerard felt a little guilty, while he'd been hiding, his mom has clearly been trying to pick up the pieces of what he'd let behind.

"Come home. We can sort things out" his mom repeated when he didn't reply "no shouting, no debates. I promise"

Gerard sighed and agreed and promised to be home within the hour, then let his friends know what was going on once he'd hung up.

"I've gotta go home and talk to my family properly" he said, he saw Hayley not approvingly "and Frank. You're coming with me"

Frank whined endlessly while Gerard collected his things, then even dramatically held onto the door frame and Gerard pulled him out to Taylor's car, but he quickly gave up when Hayley gave him a shove. "You're supposed to support your boyfriend you big coward" she scolded, and Frank just stuck his tongue out and made numerous noises of disgust on the journey home. He quickly shut up however, as they waved Taylor and Hayley off and approached the house, bracing themselves for whatever might come.

The house was very quiet when Gerard walked through the door cautiously, but he smiled despite himself when he could see Mikey waving at him from the kitchen where he and his parents were sitting.  
>Gerard pulled Frank in and then let his hand go to walk into the kitchen, he smiled at his mother who smiled back sadly, Gerard felt intensely guilty. He reminded himself to somehow thank his Mom for fixing things later.<br>Gerard's father seemed to be avoiding all eye contact; Gerard took a seat at the table and sat Frank down beside him, then cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Dad" his father didn't look up "I'm sorry if you're upset with me and I'm sorry if you're disappointed in me, but I am gay, and Frank's my boyfriend, I'm not sorry for that"

His father shuffled in his seat slightly but still didn't look up so Gerard sighed and continued, "It's not just a phase, it was just something I took a while to realise, nothing's going to change Dad, I'm still the same person, I just have a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend I guess…."  
>Gerard was really struggling to carry on talking, his dad seemed to be totally ignoring him, he sighed again and gave up, staring at the floor.<p>

Both Gerard and his father's heads snapped up however, when Frank chose to speak "Mr Way, I'm really sorry if I'm being so forward but its total bullshit if you're getting yourself worked up over Gee being gay. Why is it such a big deal? I love him more than anything, I always have, he's my best friend and I am proud to call him my boyfriend, so why does it matter that we're both guys? Would you rather your son lived a lie and was miserable his whole life?"

Gerard's father seemed to have gone into shock, and Gerard felt like he was heading that way too. "You're-you're just kids" Gerard's dad finally said, sticking his chin in the air "You don't know what love is"

"And do you?" Frank retorted with a scowl "How can you define love when you're that narrow minded to believe it's only restricted to men and women? Gerard makes me…ridiculously happy, he cheers me up by just existing and…" Frank smiled "I really do love him Mr Way, I'm awful at explaining shi-things, but I would've thought I wouldn't need to explain, he's your son and you should love him no matter what."

Gerard's father just stared at Frank, and Gerard grabbed Frank's hand and squeezed, showing his appreciation. The whole room remained in a tense silence for a while, until Gerard's father finally relaxed his shoulders and spoke.

"Firstly, Frank, call me by my first name, it's daunting when you refer to me politely and curse in the same sentence"

Frank snickered and nodded.

"Secondly, I want to apologize. Not just to Gerard, but to all of you, I was incredibly stupid and got far too worked up, I can only blame shock for my reactions"

Mikey chose to make an input at that moment "Oh come on dad, he's not got a straight bone in his body and he never has done!" Gerard leaned over to smack Mikey around his head, but he couldn't help chuckling. Mikey was so black and white about everything.

"I'm afraid it's the last thing you expect Mikey, it's hard to understand since none of you are parents, but you just have a checklist for your children in life, and I'm afraid being gay isn't one of them" Gerard's father smiled apologetically and Gerard's mother nodded slightly.

Gerard could kind of understand what he was saying; you had this kind of checklist in life- getting a girlfriend, getting married, having kids, all the usual spiel, becoming a flaming homosexual wasn't usually on that list.  
>Gerard's father looked to Gerard and Frank"I'm sorry for how I reacted" he said solemnly.<p>

Gerard just nodded but of course Frank had to open his big mouth again. "I'm sorry you caught us making out on Gee's bed" he said bluntly.

Gerard hit himself in the forehead while his parent's sat with their jaws on the floor and Frank proceeded to ask what was so funny. Gerard's Dad stood up slowly and smiled, it looked a little strained, Gerard knew it would take a while for him too be completely okay with this but at least he was trying, and grabbed Frank's hand, pulling him up too before shaking his hand firmly "Welcome to the family Frank. Properly I mean, not just as the kid that's always round and next time you too decide too...do whatever i walked in on the other day, at least remember to lock the door."

Gerard fell of his chair and Mikey had to leave the room for laughing, but Frank just smirked and nodded

"You got it. While we're on the subject….kinda, can I take Gee to prom as my date?"

Gerard's father paused for a second, then he nodded and his broke into a smile and it was the most genuine one Gerard had seem from him all day.

"Of course you can Frank, of course" he looked at Gerard, he looked incredibly guilty and very ashamed.

Gerard rushed forward and hugged his dad tight, trying super hard not to cry.

"I'm sorry I'm not the son you wanted" he repeated from a few days ago, but all the bitterness was gone, he really did mean it.

"Are you kidding me?" his Dad replied, holding Gerard by his shoulders at arm's length and smiling at him, he looked suspiciously teary eyed "Life would be boring if it was perfect. You're better than that kiddo; I promise I'll love you no matter what."

"Me too!" Mikey called from the living room.

"Me three" Gerard's mom smiled "and me!" Frank added with a giggle.

Gerard couldn't help but smile then, his life wasn't perfect, but it was getting there.


	14. Teenagers

"Oh my god, I hate shopping" Mikey murmured raking a hand across the rail of suits in the middle of the store.

"Me too, I might just buy this one. Job done" Taylor muttered pulling out a pin striped one.

"Dude, don't be stupid. Hayley would kill you." Gerard said walking out of the changing room adjusting the bright tie he had just put around his neck, it stood out against the jet black shirt and suit he had on.

"Gee that looks awesome!" Mikey grinned from across the shop floor.

"Thanks, do you think Frank will like it?" He asked running a hand through his long black hair.

"You could probably go to prom in a garbage bag and Frank would like it." Taylor chuckled.

"I hope so, you know Hayley gonna go crazy and dress him in something totally weird." He replied stepping back into the changing room.

"Yup, I'm surprised he actually went with the girls." Mikey said and pulled out a white shirt with skinny black tie draped over it.

"Hayley insisted he did. Something about him and Gerard not being allowed to see each other's suits before prom." Taylor laughed fondly.

"He'll probably enjoy the attention anyway"

"Yeah, definitely." Taylor grinned and walked over to a rack of trousers.

"I'm just gonna get these" Mikey said excitedly holding up a pair of black trousers and white shirt.

"Cool, I'm just going to buy a pair of these trousers and wear a blazer." Taylor grinned and picked up a pair of fitted black jeans.

"By the way, Alicia told me you had to get Hayley a corsage."

"Oh crap. Do you know what color I have to get her?" Taylor looked utterly terrified.

"How should I know, you better get her the right color though. I can't imagine what she'll do to you if you get her the wrong one." Mikey whistled casually as he walked towards the checkout.

"Oh c'mon dude, you must know something! How do you know that one is right for Alicia!?" Taylor accused pointing at the black and purple rose corsage that Mikey had picked up without any thought.

"Because I know Alicia will be wearing either a black or purple dress. She's not gonna wear some girly bubble gum thing. That's not how she is." Mikey smiled happily handing over the money for his items.

"Why can't Hayley just like simple things" Taylor sighed and looked at the huge row of corsages with wide eyes.

"Because she's..Hayley" Gerard laughed appearing as if by magic with a shopping bag in hand.

"Taylor, you better think long and hard about this." Mikey teased.

"Oh god save me." Tayor muttered dramatically and began his search.

* * *

><p>"Hayley, are you totally sure about this? Don't you think it's a bit much?" Alicia squeaked looking at herself in the mirror.<p>

"No! Ali, you don't ever dress girly. You've said it yourself. This is the one day of the year you can let yourself go all out" Hayley smiled at Alicia, she looked freaking awesome. Hayley had picked out tons of dresses for her to try on and this was the only one that she hadn't turned her nose up at.  
>It was beautiful, Hayley had to admit, Alicia looked gorgeous in it.<br>It was purple covered in intricate black lace, the dress had a corset and puffed out a hell of a lot at the waist.

"It's a little too girly for me Hayley" she murmured sounding unsure.

Hayley smirked and picked up the black lace halter sleeves she had had ready for this moment. "What if we add this?" She grinned and handed it to her.

"Oh..." Was all Alicia replied her lips tilting up into a smile. "I like that." She said taking it from Hayley's hand and pressing it to her neck and buttoning it up the mirror.

"Perfect!" Hayley smiled.

"Okay you were right!" Alicia said and rolled her eyes before walking back into her changing room.

Time to see where Frank had gotten too, Hayley thought to herself as she walked over to the men's section.

"Frank are you decent?" Hayley said through the curtain. She had sent Frank in here over ten minutes ago.

"I am not coming out." He muttered from the other side.

"Why?" Hayley said confused, all she had asked him to do was try on a pair of mens skinny jeans and a white shirt.

"Because you gave me jeans that make me look like I will never be able to have children."

Hayley almost chocked. She pursed her lips together and regained her composure before she spoke. "For one, you're gay so having children that way probably won't happen. And two you're being overdramatic they can't be that tight."

Hayley heard a rustling behind the curtain then Frank appeared before he still had on his pair of fingerless gloves with skulls on them.

"You look awesome!" which wasn't a lie.

"I feel like a tool." Frank murmured looking over himself in the mirror.

"You don't look like one, Frank." Hayley said.  
>"Why don't you go and pick a tie our or something."<p>

"You mean you're letting me pick out something for once." He grinned and all but skipped over to the row of ties hanging from a wall.

"Funny, I let you help me pick out my dress!" she replied.

"Yeah but that was different, if I hadn't you would have went in that yellow dress and looked like a sherbet lemon." Frank said picking up a bright red tie from a rack of solid coloured ones.

"It symbolized sunshine okay!"

"Oh, because you are so radiant" Frank smirked putting the tie around his neck and sauntered over to the mirror.

"You know I am" Hayley replied following him.

"Hmm," Frank said putting a hand on his hip and the other against his head posing like something from vogue "I like it."

"Okay I take it back, you are a tool." Hayley laughed and shook her head.

"Then this" he said pointing his thumbs at himself, "is one sexy tool"

"Oh shut up and pay for your clothes so we can go meet the guys." She laughed and walked away to find Alicia.

* * *

><p><strong>Told you we were coming back.<br>Sorry it's so short. **


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